6 Android Phones That Outperform The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE

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The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is a solid and dependable phone that comes with a decent camera setup and seven years’ worth of Android updates. But the catch is that it’s merely an incremental upgrade over last year’s model, with an older USB standard and lots of bloatware, while costing $50 more for the base model. RAM also remains the same at just 8GB, even for the priciest variant. With a $700 starting price, it would be worth looking elsewhere, because better options exist, and they will cost you around the same price, if not less.

Each of the S26 FE alternatives we’re going to look at below posts a higher AnTuTu benchmark score than the S26 FE. This benchmark score is a simple number that’s supposed to reflect how good or capable a phone’s overall performance is by pushing the hardware to its absolute limits. On top of that, each device here comes with 12GB RAM instead of 8GB — 50% more memory for around the same price.

Beyond the raw numbers, each of the phone selections also comes with a few more advantages in everyday use. The only place where the S26 FE may be irreplaceable is on the Android updates front — most other models just can’t match that unless it’s another Samsung. However, simply having longer operating system support isn’t what a good phone is all about. Here are the six phones worth considering over the S26 FE based on price and overall performance.

OnePlus The OnePlus 15R base model offers the same amount of storage as the $800 256GB S26 FE — but has more RAM at 12GB and undercuts its price, coming in at between $700 and $770, depending on where you buy. On top of that, the 15R also records a significantly higher AnTuTu v11 score of 2,981,677 than the S26 FE’s 2,535,201, as per GSMArena’s tests. Both phones can handle demanding apps and games, but the 15R has clear headroom in this case.

Another critical daily use area that may make the 15R a better option is battery life — it comes with a massive 7,400mAh silicon-carbon battery over Samsung’s 4,900mAh unit. The larger capacity should easily see you through a full day on a single charge, even with heavy usage — or two days with light to moderate usage. The S26 FE’s capacity is all right, but it doesn’t come with that security of knowing you’ll get through a day of heavy use. The OnePlus also edges out the Samsung in battery charging speed — 80W compared to the latter’s 45W.

On the software front, the 15R ships with Android 16 and promises four operating system updates and six years of security updates. So if you intend to hold onto your phone for a while, this device should be good to use past 2030, at least on the software side. The 15R doesn’t have a telephoto camera like the S26 FE, but the dual-camera setup is solid in most situations. Keep in mind that OnePlus exited North America and Europe in July 2026, so the 15R is sold from remaining stock, but updates and support will continue.

Poco Xiaomi’s Poco F8 Pro is the value champion among the S26 FE alternatives we have here, coming in at $640 for the 256GB base model with 12GB RAM. In comparison, you’ll have to fork out $800 for the same storage and 8GB RAM if you go the S26 FE route. On top of that, the F8 Pro posts an AnTuTu v11 score of 3,023,050 versus 2,535,201 on the S26 FE. This gap in the numbers is thanks to the F8 Pro having the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip — the same one found in many 2025 flagship phones, which usually outperforms the Exynos 2500 found in the Samsung device.

On battery life, the F8 Pro also outshines the S26 FE with a larger 6,210mAh battery that supports up to 100W wired charging with the right charger for quick top-ups (45 minutes for a full charge). It should be able to see you through two to three days if you’re a light user, and you shouldn’t have to worry about charging every night. The triple-camera setup is also decent in natural lighting, albeit with heavy reliance on post-processing, which may or may not be an issue depending on your personal taste — and you do get a telephoto lens. It’s one of the best Android phones we can recommend at the time of writing, given the raw power and impressive battery.

umitc/Shutterstock If you always prefer Samsung over other brands, you still have several other options that offer more than the S26 FE at the same price or lower. The Samsung Galaxy S25+ is the first option you should consider if you want more value for your money. It starts at $730 for 256GB storage and also comes with the superior Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. For some reason, the performance difference on AnTuTu’s v10 benchmark is marginal, with the S25+ having a slight edge, but that’s the whole point — you’re paying less for a more capable device on many fronts.

Most internal specifications apart from RAM on the two devices aren’t far apart, but the S25+ does offer a more durable build (Gorilla Glass Victus 2 vs. Victus+), a brighter display, a higher screen-to-body ratio for the same screen size, and a USB 3.2 port over the S26 FE’s USB 2.0. The battery is identical, with 45W maximum fast charging, so battery life should be around the same even though the chips are different. On the camera front, the S25+ has a marginally better 10MP telephoto lens than the S26 FE’s 8MP. Everything else on the two devices is just about the same despite the S25+ being more than one year older.

xsprtd/Shutterstock If you fancy a smaller 6.2-inch Samsung phone that still edges out the S26 FE in performance under $700, the Samsung Galaxy S25 would be one of the best bets. It is basically a smaller version of the S25+ that we’ve looked at above, but it scores a little bit higher on the AnTuTu v10 benchmark despite having an identical Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. On top of that, it carries over all the other benefits the larger S25+ has over the S26 FE. The only area where the S26 FE outperforms it is battery life and charging speed. The S25’s battery is only 4,000mAh compared to the S26 FE’s 4,900mAh, and it charges at 25W versus 45W. Despite the former having a smaller screen, the S26 FE will still get you more screen time.

The only other caveat is that you’ll most likely get around a year and a half more of updates with the S26 FE, since it’s the newer of the two. Other than that, the S25 remains the superior device, especially in terms of hardware, overall performance, and price. The 256GB version with 12GB RAM is available for $695, which is still cheaper than the S26 FE’s $700 128GB base model.

Elvard project/Shutterstock There’s yet an even more interesting pull from the S25 family that you can go for instead of the S26 FE — the $670 Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. In our in-depth review of the S25 Edge, we found that it’s more about design than function without sacrificing the latter. So if you want something that stands out (it’s quite thin), this device would without a doubt be a better deal than the S26 FE. In the AnTuTu v10 benchmark, the S25 Edge also slightly edges out the S26 FE since it also runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite like the other devices in the same family.

Where it really pulls ahead is in overall build and the display, which looks noticeably better with a 92.1% screen-to-body ratio versus the S26 FE’s 88.7%. The camera is still solid despite having a dual-camera setup with no telephoto lens — the main 200MP lens does a pretty good job even at 4x zoom. For perspective, the camera setup even rivals the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s much superior setup in some cases. The only tradeoff you’ll have to live with is that being an ultra-thin device means you get a smaller 3,900mAh battery. Besides that, you’ll be getting an attractive device that does all the things the S26 FE can do with double the storage (256GB) and more RAM, while still saving a few bucks.

Ruslan Lytvyn/Shutterstock All the Samsung recommendations above are more than one year older than the S26 FE. If that’s a deal-breaker for you, how about going for the more recent Samsung Galaxy S26? The 256GB variants of both the S26 and S26 FE retail at the same price ($800) at the time of writing. Going for the S26 would be a no-brainer in this case, as it comes with the far superior Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip in the U.S. version, which beats the Exynos 2500 in all the benchmarks that matter, including AnTuTu v11 (3,064,672 vs. 2,535,201). On top of raw performance, the flagship advantages are also real, with the S26 offering a better camera, build quality, display, and USB 3.2 instead of USB 2.0.

You also get more RAM at 12GB and 256GB base storage. The only area where the S26 FE is seemingly better is its 4,900mAh battery, compared to the S26’s 4,300mAh. However, the S26 has a smaller 6.3-inch screen and edges out the FE by several minutes in active-use battery tests. If you want to pay less than the S26’s $800 price, you can always go the refurbished route to save even further. Since it’s the newest Samsung flagship before the S26 FE, most used units haven’t quite hit the mileage that would have you worried about going for refurbished options.

Framesira/Shutterstock Price was the first thing we looked at, so we went for options around the same price with a superior AnTuTu benchmark score. This score is one of the best ways to get an idea of chipset performance. All the selections have more RAM, and some base models happen to offer more storage than the S26 FE, so we based the S26 FE’s price on the 256GB variant rather than the base model. Important features such as camera performance and battery life were also part of what was weighed against the S26 FE, with our own coverage and expert reviews from sites like GSMArena, Tech Advisor, and PCMag informing this part of the comparison.