Samsung announced the Galaxy S26 FE on 27 August 2026 and put it on sale on 4 September. Samsung Electronics East Africa sells one configuration here, 8GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, at a recommended retail price of KES 103,100.
That is the recommended retail price. On the ground the S26 FE goes for about KES 81,000 at Avechi. The Galaxy S25 FE it replaces, in the same 256GB configuration, runs from about KES 69,000 there to about KES 82,000 at Brandcart. So depending on where you walk in, the newer phone costs you around KES 12,000 more, or nothing at all.
What is actually different between S25 FE and S26 FE:
FE stands for Fan Edition, Samsung’s cheapest way into the flagship Galaxy S line each year. The S26 FE is the fourth and last phone in the range, six months behind the S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra.
| Galaxy S25 FE | Galaxy S26 FE | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Exynos 2400, 4nm | Exynos 2500, 3nm |
| Front camera | 12MP, 80 degree view | 12MP, 85 degree view |
| Charging | 45W, 65% in 30 min | 45W, 69% in 30 min |
| USB-C data | USB 3.2, wired DeX works | USB 2.0, wired DeX gone |
| Software at launch | Android 16, One UI 8 | Android 17, One UI 9 |
| Colours | Jetblack, Icyblue, Navy, White | Blueberry, Graphite, Pistachio |
| Kenya recommended price | KES 99,999 for 128GB | KES 103,100 for 256GB |
The back is glossy now instead of matte, and the three cameras sit on one raised island rather than in separate rings. But, everything else carries over.
Similarities between S25 FE and S26 FE:
- Same 6.7in AMOLED at 1080 x 2340 and 120Hz,
- Same 1,900 nits, same 50MP main, 12MP ultra-wide and 8MP 3x telephoto,
- Same 4,900mAh battery,
- Same Gorilla Glass Victus+ and IP68,
- Same 8GB of RAM,
- Same seven years of updates.
- Same 4900mAh battery with 45W wired charging
The chip
The Exynos 2400 is built on a 4nm process. The Exynos 2500 is built on 3nm. Packing transistors closer together lets the chip do the same work on less current. That single change is why this generation is both faster and longer-lasting on an identical battery.
Samsung’s own figures for the Exynos 2500 are a 15% gain in big-core CPU, a 28% frame-rate gain in games using ray tracing, and a 39% improvement in the NPU, the block that runs on-device AI.
The bigger practical gain is heat. Under sustained stress the S26 FE held between 62% and 68% of its peak speed, and its surface stayed cooler than the S25 FE’s. If you shoot long video or game for half an hour, that is where you feel it.
Battery
Well, it’s the same 4,900mAh cell, same 45W wired charging. And the adapter is still sold separately. Samsung rates the S26 FE as getting to 69% in half an hour against the S25 FE at 65%.
The efficiency shows up in use. The same lab’s active use test scored the S25 FE at 11 hours 57 minutes and the S26 FE at 14 hours 49 minutes. So moving from one to the other gets you roughly two hours fifty minutes more screen time per charge, on the same size battery.
What Samsung left out?
The USB-C port dropped from USB 3.2 to USB 2.0, which takes file transfers from roughly 5Gbps down to 480Mbps and removes wired DisplayPort output. That means you don’t get wired Samsung DeX. Wireless DeX still works.
Then there is Gemini Intelligence, the agentic assistant that is the whole point of One UI 9. It needs at least 12GB of RAM and Gemini Nano v3. The S26 FE has 8GB, so it doesn’t quality. The S25 FE, also on 8GB, is in exactly the same position, which means this is not a reason to move.
Samsung began the stable One UI 9 rollout on 16th September. Internal builds for the S25 FE have been in testing since July. An S25 FE owner gets One UI 9 within months at no cost, and both phones carry the same seven Android upgrades and seven years of patches.
Who should buy which
If you already own an S25 FE, keep it. Same cameras, same screen, same battery cell, One UI 9 is coming to you anyway, and the port on the newer phone is slower than the one you have. Nearly three hours of extra screen time is the only daily difference.
If you are buying new, be keen on price rather than on the generation. At around KES 81,000 for the S26 FE against around KES 69,000 for a 256GB S25 FE, the newer chip, the cooler running and the longer battery are worth the difference. At the KES 103,100 recommended price they are not. And if the only S25 FE you can find is the KES 82,000 one, buy the S26 FE instead. The value pick in the range is the 128GB S25 FE at about KES 60,000, which takes the same photographs as both.
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