C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
For a couple of years now, I’ve felt that Samsung has been frustratingly conservative with its high-end phones — and I’m not alone. This complacency reached a new low, however, with the Galaxy S25 series. Yes, there’s the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip across the board and a new ultrawide camera on the Ultra, but these are otherwise the same phones as last year. And those phones didn’t offer much over the Galaxy S23 series.
You only have to look at rival phones to see that Samsung is lagging behind the pack. This got me thinking, and I realized I wouldn’t even consider another Samsung flagship phone until it gets these features that have become standard in many other Android flagships.
What do you want to see from the Galaxy S26 series?
49 votes
Silicon-carbon batteries
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
Battery life is one of the key selling points for most smartphone buyers, and it’s one of my top three priorities as well. Unfortunately, Samsung hasn’t changed the battery capacity of the Galaxy S25 series compared to the S24 family. In fact, the S25 Ultra hasn’t had any capacity changes since 2020’s S20 Ultra, while the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus have only seen mild upgrades at best since the Galaxy S22 range. I find this lack of a capacity boost especially disappointing for the standard S25, which offers a 4,000mAh battery. That sounds fine for now, but battery degradation means you could soon be reaching for the charger well before the end of the day… on a phone that’s supposed to stay with you for many years.
By contrast, the OnePlus 13 offers a 6,000mAh battery, the realme GT7 Pro has a 6,500mAh battery, and the HONOR Magic 7 Pro has a 5,850mAh battery. These brands are all using silicon-carbon batteries, which enable more capacity for the same physical size or allow phones to pack a physically smaller battery without losing capacity. Unfortunately (and frustratingly), Samsung hasn’t adopted this technology yet — not even in its super thin upcoming Galaxy S25 Edge. So I really hope the company gets on this bandwagon in 2026, and early leaks suggest that next year’s phones could indeed offer this tech.
You only need to look at the Xiaomi 15 (5,400mAh) and the vivo X200 Pro Mini (5,700mAh) for proof of what’s truly possible. These are phones with 6.3-inch displays, yet they offer batteries that are larger than the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 5,000mAh cell.
Modern camera systems
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
One of my biggest issues with the Galaxy S25 series is that the base and Plus variants still offer camera hardware that’s basically identical to 2022’s Galaxy S22 series. That means we haven’t seen upgrades for four years in a row. That 50MP 1/1.56-inch main camera is quite old and has been available on mid-range phones for a couple of generations now. All three phones also have a measly 10MP 3x telephoto camera, which is particularly embarrassing for the S25 Ultra in light of its $1,300 price tag (even if it offers an additional, better 5x zoom lens).
The standard and Plus Galaxy phones have offered the same camera hardware for four generations now.
By contrast, rival brands are offering 50MP or even 200MP periscope cameras on their flagships. These same flagships also offer much larger main cameras, enabling better low-light image quality, more natural bokeh effects, and more improvements. Today, you can even find some mid-range phones with 50MP 2x or 3x cameras, allowing them to duke it out with the S25 and S25 Plus.
I think it’s time for Samsung to admit that there’s really no toothpaste left in that 10MP tube. So I hope all three Galaxy S26 models get a 50MP 3x camera at the very least, but it’s high time for the base and Plus variants to receive a main camera upgrade, too.
Faster charging speeds, please
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
The Galaxy S25 Plus and Ultra already offer respectable 45W wired charging speeds, but I’d love faster charging times from next year’s models, be it via higher peak wattages or the ability to sustain 45W speeds for longer. On top of that, I have a major problem with the base Galaxy S25.
Simply put, the standard S25 has measly 25W wired charging speeds. The smaller battery means you can get away with lower wattages to some extent, but third-party testing shows that the phone still takes roughly 75 minutes to hit a full charge. For a phone with a 4,000mAh battery! I’m not asking for blazing fast and ridiculous 20-minute charging times, but is it really too much to ask for a small phone that hits 100% in under an hour? This situation could prove to be very awkward later this year as some Galaxy A56 leaks point to Samsung’s top mid-ranger offering 45W charging speeds — better than its base flagship by a long mile!
Now, I’m not saying that Galaxy phones don’t have their strengths. These phones offer fantastic update policies, an unparalleled level of customization thanks to Good Lock, and loads of handy features. But as someone who highly values battery life, charging speed, and the camera experience, I want Samsung to step up in this regard so I can consider it for my own use or recommend it to people.
