Samsung Galaxy S26 FE Leak Shows 3 Colors, Signals €50-€170 Price Hike

Q: With the Galaxy S26 FE launching next month, will its Exynos 2500 chip finally silence the critics of Samsung's in-house silicon?

Probably not on launch day, but it could meaningfully narrow the case against Exynos if the leaked gains hold up in real use. The best evidence so far is encouraging but incomplete. Benchmark leaks for the Galaxy S26 FE point to roughly 2,426 single-core and 8,004 multi-core in Geekbench, about 38% and 22% better than the Exynos 2500 seen in the Galaxy Z Flip 7. That suggests the chip may have been held back more by the Flip’s cramped thermals than by its core design. In a larger bar-style phone with more cooling headroom, Samsung’s 3nm Exynos 2500 may finally show closer to its intended performance. On paper, the chip is competitive enough to improve the conversation. It uses Samsung’s 3nm GAA process, a 10-core CPU, LPDDR5X, UFS 4.0, and the Xclipse 950 GPU. Paired with a 6.7-inch body, a near-5,000mAh battery, and 45W charging, the S26 FE looks better positioned than a compact foldable to deliver steadier sustained performance. But critics of Exynos have never focused only on peak benchmark scores. Their concerns have centered on efficiency, heat, throttling, battery drain, modem behavior, and long-term consistency versus Snapdragon rivals. Those are exactly the areas leaks cannot settle. So the S26 FE may become the strongest recent argument for Samsung’s in-house silicon, but “silencing critics” will require independent reviews showing that the Exynos 2500 performs well not just in bursts, but over time, under load, and without battery or thermal compromises.

3 articles · Updated · samsung.gadgethacks.com · Aug 6

Three leaked images show the Galaxy S26 FE in black, light green and dark purple, with a revised camera island that aligns it with the broader S26 design.
Samsung has only confirmed the phone is coming soon—executives referenced the S26 FE and said it was "weeks" away—while the design, pricing and launch date still come from leaks.
Camera leaks point to little hardware change: a 50MP main sensor and 8MP telephoto reportedly carry over from the S25 FE, with any gains more likely from image processing or rumored 4K/60 and 8K/30 video modes.
French pricing leaks list 128GB, 256GB and 512GB versions at €799, €899 and €1,099, implying a €50 to €170 increase over the S25 FE and raising questions about the Fan Edition's value positioning.
A September 4 launch date is circulating through leaker reports, but Samsung has not confirmed timing, full specifications or the still-unrevealed U.S. price.