Every photograph here is our own, taken in our studio and at our office window with the three colours Samsung sells in Malaysia. This is a first look at the hardware; the full review, with the camera and battery tested, follows.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE went on sale in Malaysia on 4 September at RM2,899, and it is the first phone in the S26 family to ship with One UI 9. We had all three Malaysian colours on the bench for an afternoon. Here is what the Fan Edition looks and feels like before the testing starts.
Table of Contents
In the hand
Samsung lists the S26 FE at 161.6 by 76.9 by 7.4 millimetres and 193 grams, with IP68 water and dust resistance. In the hand that is a flat-sided slab with softly rounded corners, the same shape language as the rest of the 2026 Galaxy S line, and the finish is a matte glass that shows fewer fingerprints than the glossy backs of earlier Fan Editions. It sits between a compact and a large phone: one-handed reach across the 6.7-inch screen is a stretch, as it is on every phone this size.
The part that stands out is the camera island. Three lenses sit in a vertical pill on the back, raised just enough to catch light, which is the S26 family look rather than the loose separate rings of the older FE phones. Put it beside a Galaxy S26 and you have to look twice.
The three colours
Blueberry is a deep navy that reads almost black indoors and shows its blue under daylight. Pistachio is a pale mint, the one people picked up first in our office. Graphite is the safe near-black. Samsung Malaysia sells all three in every storage size.
What is inside
The screen is a 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X at up to 120Hz, with a peak of 1,900 nits that Samsung quotes for outdoor use. The chip is Samsung's own Exynos 2500 on a 3nm process with 8GB of memory, which is the main place the FE differs from the Snapdragon-powered S26 models above it. The battery is 4,900 mAh with 45W wired charging, about 69 per cent in 30 minutes by Samsung's figure, and 15W wireless. The 45W adapter is sold separately.
The cameras are a 50MP main with optical stabilisation, a 12MP ultra-wide with a 123-degree field of view, an 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom and up to 30x digital, and a 12MP front camera. My FanCam, Super Steady with Horizontal Lock, Nightography and Photo Assist all carry over from the pricier Galaxy models.
Software: the first S26 on One UI 9
The S26 FE launches on One UI 9, based on Android 17, ahead of the rest of the family, with Galaxy AI features including Now Brief, Now Nudge and Circle to Search. Samsung promises seven generations of Android upgrades and seven years of security updates, the same window as its flagships, plus a six-month trial of Google AI Pro with 5TB of storage.
What the price says: five Fan Editions in Malaysia
We have reported every Fan Edition launch in Malaysia since the S21 FE. The starting prices, from our own archive at the time of each launch:
| Fan Edition | Malaysian launch price, as we reported it |
|---|---|
| Galaxy S21 FE January 2022 | From RM2,899 (our report) |
| Galaxy S23 FE October 2023 | 128GB RM2,999, 256GB RM3,299 (our report) |
| Galaxy S24 FE September 2024 | 256GB RM3,299, 512GB RM3,899, no 128GB (our report) |
| Galaxy S25 FE September 2025 | 256GB RM3,099, 512GB RM3,699 (our report) |
| Galaxy S26 FE September 2026 | 128GB RM2,899, 256GB RM3,299, 512GB RM4,099 (our report) |
Two things fall out of that table. The 128GB model is back after two years away, and its RM2,899 is exactly what the S21 FE cost when it reached Malaysia in January 2022. And the 256GB model, the one most people buy, is RM200 more than last year's S25 FE at the same size, level with the S23 FE and S24 FE. The FE has not become cheaper; it has come back down to where it started, with a telephoto camera and seven years of updates it did not have then.
Until 30 September, Samsung's launch promotions can bring the 128GB model to as low as RM2,499: RM600 off through SPayLater with interest-free instalments up to 12 months, bank rebates of up to RM600, and a RM100 rebate for Samsung Fans members. The lowest figure assumes you qualify for every part of it.
What we will test
Three things decide whether the FE earns its price, and none of them can be judged on a bench. The Exynos 2500 under sustained load, meaning heat and how the 4,900 mAh battery holds up on a long day. The 3x telephoto against the S25 FE, which did without one. And whether One UI 9 on an FE feels like the flagship software Samsung says it is. The full review follows once the phone has had a proper week.
Samsung Malaysia supplied the units photographed. Prices are Samsung Malaysia's recommended retail prices as published at launch.
