5 Android Phones More Powerful Than The Galaxy S26 FE

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Launched in September 2026, the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is the company’s latest in the Galaxy S FE series, which first came into existence in 2020 alongside the Galaxy S20. The idea is simple: offer flagship-like performance at a lower price, and the S26 FE delivers. It’s got the same 1,080-by-2,340 resolution screen as the Galaxy S26, the same large 4,900 mAh battery with fast 45 W wired charging as the Galaxy S26 Plus, as well as a fairly comparable camera setup, with the only meaningful difference being the telephoto lens, which is 8 MP on the S26 FE compared to 10 MP on the S26 and S26+.

However, one main reason the S26 FE manages to undercut its more expensive siblings is the chipset. It’s powered by an Exynos 2500 as compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on the S26 and S26 Plus, which delivers significantly more power. That’s 3,639 versus 2,285 in Geekbench single-core tests, and 11,047 versus 7,874 in multi-core tests. As TechRadar said about the S26 FE, “it’s not a handset you’ll want to do anything more practical on than standard browsing and messaging.”

However, does a $200 bump in price justify the extra performance? Not necessarily, especially when there are several Android smartphones at around or even cheaper than the S26 FE that offer better raw performance than the Exynos 2500. We’ve gone ahead and picked the best of them, which includes the Galaxy S25, OnePlus 15R, Motorola Signature, Pixel 10 Pro, and Xiaomi 17. We’ve provided options for both U.S. and international customers, and all our picks are fairly new launches as well.

The OnePlus 15R is one of the best phones OnePlus ever made, and even though OnePlus phones are now no longer available in North America and Europe, it’s still a strong Galaxy S26 FE alternative to consider for users outside the Western regions. It starts at a similar price to the S26 FE, at $700, but gives you more RAM (12 GB versus 8 GB) and double the storage (256 GB). It packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, like the Motorola Signature, and is therefore easily more powerful for both productivity and gaming than the S26 FE.

According to Tom’s Guide‘s benchmarking tests, the OnePlus 15R scored 2,691 and 9,502 in Geekbench 6 single-core and multi-core tests, respectively, both notably higher than the S26 FE. Furthermore, the OnePlus 15R’s 6.83-inch AMOLED display has a higher peak brightness (3,600 nits) and refresh rate (165 Hz), and it also has the highest durability ratings of any smartphone — IP66/68/69/69K, as opposed to just IP68 on the S26 FE.

The OnePlus 15R is an absolute battery monster, with a massive 7,400mAh battery that’s larger than even the more expensive OnePlus 15. You’ll have “no issues with getting [it] to last at least two days between charges,” according to TechRadar. However, the bigger battery is not without its drawbacks. OnePlus has completely done away with the telephoto lens it impressed everyone with when it included it in the OnePlus 13R. That means the OnePlus 15R has only two cameras at the back, a 50 MP main lens and an 8 MP ultrawide one, making the Galaxy S26 FE a better camera phone on paper. That said, the 15R has an updated 32 MP selfie camera, compared to 12 MP on the S26 FE.

According to CNET, the Motorola Signature is “the company’s first flagship phone that looks confident enough to take on heavyweights,” and this is particularly true for the Galaxy S26 FE. It was announced at CES 2026 and starts at approximately $660 for 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. That’s double the storage and 50% more RAM than the S26 FE, and at a lower price. There’s also a 16 GB RAM and 512 GB storage version for $1,039. Under the hood, it’s powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, which delivers 60% better performance than the Galaxy S26 FE’s Exynos 2500, according to Beebom’s testing.

It has significantly better scores in Geekbench single-core and multi-core tests, as well as the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme stress test. The Motorola Signature boasts a 6.8-inch 1,264-by-2,780 resolution LTPO AMOLED display, along with support for HDR10+ and a 165 Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy S26 FE, on the other hand, caps out at 120 Hz and, unlike the Signature, cannot be set to a 1 Hz refresh rate for an always-on display.

The Signature also has a peak brightness of 6,200 nits and a larger 5,200 mAh silicon-carbon battery, which supports 90 W of wired charging and 50 W of wireless charging. This is again significantly better than the Galaxy S26 FE, which caps out at 45 W of wired and 15 W of wireless charging. It also has a better camera setup, with four 50 MP cameras: three at the back (main camera, telephoto lens, and ultra-wide) and another at the front. The Motorola Signature is available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific regions, but the company has also announced that an updated model, the Motorola Signature 27, will release in North America.

Despite being an iteration older, the Samsung Galaxy S25 is still more powerful than the newly launched Galaxy S26 FE, thanks largely to its flagship status compared to the S26 FE’s mid-range build. The Galaxy S25 starts at $100 higher — $799.99 for its base 128 GB model — but includes 12 GB of RAM as opposed to 8 GB for the S26 FE. The Snapdragon 8 Elite “for Galaxy” chip inside the Galaxy S25 makes it much better for both everyday tasks and gaming than the S26 FE’s Exynos 2500.

Its single-core score, for example, was 3,037 compared to 2,285 for the S26 FE, while the multi-core score was 9,669 compared to 7,874. In 3DMark Wildlife Extreme, it scored 5,788 compared to 5,116. The Galaxy S25 is also a much better option for people who prefer a small phone. It measures just 5.78 inches by 2.77 inches by 0.28 inches, while also being just under 6 ounces in weight. And it still rocks a 4,000mAh battery, which, according to TechRadar‘s testing, is “the best battery life for phones this size.”

The Galaxy S25 also has a much better display than the Galaxy S26 FE. Its 6.7-inch FHD+   Dynamic AMOLED 2X display comes with a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, compared to just 1,900 nits for the S26 FE. “The extra brightness really kicks in when the sun is out, and it makes a big difference,” said TechRadar. The bezels around the S25’s screen are also much slimmer, giving it a more refined and premium look. Lastly, while the camera systems aren’t too different from each other, the S25 does carry a better 10 MP telephoto camera compared to the 8 MP telephoto camera of the S26 FE.

The Google Pixel 10 Pro might not beat the Galaxy S26 FE in raw benchmark numbers, but it “feels smooth and snappy and fluid in ways that are difficult to put into numbers,” as GSMArena put it. Powered by the Google Tensor G5 chipset, it scored 2,333 and 6,375 in Android Central‘s Geekbench 6 single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. These are much better numbers than both the base Pixel 10 and the previous-gen Google Pixel 9 Pro.

While it lags behind the S26 FE’s Exynos 2500, Google itself says that it tunes its custom chipset’s power to provide better AI features, camera experience, and security. And the Pixel 10 Pro is indeed one of the best AI phones, offering an AI wallpaper maker, Pixel Call Assist, Magic Eraser, Camera Coach, Google’s popular Magic Cue that works like a personal on-device AI assistant, and more. The Pixel 10 Pro is currently priced at $914.99 on Amazon for its base 128 GB version. There are also 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB variants, all of which come with 16 GB of RAM, which is double that of the Galaxy S26 FE.

The Pixel 10 Pro also edges past the S26 FE in terms of display. TechRadar says that it’s “one of the top phones for screen quality.” It packs in more pixels in its 6.2-inch 2,856-by-1,280 screen, supports varying refresh rates between 1 and 120 Hz, and has a peak brightness of 3,300 nits. It’s also one of the best camera phones out there — much better than the Galaxy S26 FE, thanks to a 50 MP wide camera lens, a 48 MP ultra-wide lens, and a 48 MP 5x telephoto zoom lens at the back, along with a 42 MP selfie camera.

The Xiaomi 17 is among the best Chinese phones you normally can’t buy in the United States. Priced at around $919.50 for the variant with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, it offers significantly better value for money than the Galaxy S26 FE, even though its starting price is slightly higher. It’s powered by one of the fastest mobile chipsets, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, which makes it more powerful than even the Galaxy S25 and S26. It scored 3,489 and 10,303 in PhoneArena‘s Geekbench 6 single-core and multi-core tests, respectively — significantly ahead of the likes of the Google Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S25, and even rivaling the Galaxy S26 and Apple iPhone 17.

In PhoneArena’s graphics test, the Xiaomi 17 churned out a 6,267 score in 3DMark Extreme High, and 4,617 in 3DMark Extreme Low, ahead of all of its closest rivals. According to TechRadar, the Xiaomi 17 handled everything with ease, “from complex video editing to high-end gaming.” It’s also the perfect middle ground for small-phone lovers who need more power and specs than the Galaxy S25 or S26. It measures just 5.95 by 2.83 by 0.32 inches, though it’s heavier than those rivals.

And that’s because of its huge 6,330 mAh battery, which is larger than even those of the company’s more expensive models, including the Xiaomi 17 Ultra and Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. You get a 6.3-inch LTPO AMOLED display with 1-120 Hz refresh rates and a peak brightness of 3,500 nits, along with a triple 50 MP rear camera system and a 50 MP selfie camera. It offers four years of OS upgrades and six years of security updates, which isn’t as high as the S26 FE’s seven years, but it isn’t bad either.

The first criterion for our selection when looking for smartphones more powerful than the Galaxy S26 FE was to pick phones that offer better raw performance. All of the chipsets in this guide outscore the S26 FE’s Exynos 2500 when it comes to CPU and GPU benchmark tests. And even the one that does not — the Google Pixel 10 Pro — is still on par with the Galaxy S26 FE when it comes to everyday practical performance. As for the benchmark test scores themselves, we relied on hands-on testing and independent results from sources such as Geekbench, PhoneArena, TechRadar, and Android Central.

Our other important criterion was to only pick Android smartphones that are priced similarly to the Galaxy S26 FE. We’ve picked models on either side of the Galaxy S26 FE’s $699 starting price tag, but rest assured that the ones that are $100-$200 more expensive, like the Xiaomi 17, offer significantly more value for money than that price difference suggests.

We also prioritized picking phones that provide an excellent package overall. That includes having a sharp and bright display, a good camera setup, a large battery, and even software and security update support on par with the Galaxy S26 FE, which is already one of the highest in the industry. Last but not least, the Android phones we’ve picked are also all fairly fresh launches, meaning they offer some of the newest hardware and tech, including AI features, just like the Galaxy S26 FE.