The Samsung Galaxy S26 series is out, so naturally, it is the talk of the town. Samsung usually passes "brand-new flagships" with iterative upgrades as shiny must-haves to the masses, but not this time. The S26 models might look like last year's phones with rounded corners and slimmer bodies — while resembling the design language of the Pixel 10 series a little too closely — but there are plenty of new features to look forward to.
Samsung can color me impressed by the innovative privacy screen technology, which lets users prevent snoops from peeking at their devices without having to invest in a privacy screen protector. But apart from its incredible display tech, Samsung continues to lean heavily on the software side.
Samsung continues to "borrow" Google's features and rebrand them for Galaxy devices. Markedly, however, Samsung isn't just copying Google's homework word for word. In fact, newer phones like the Galaxy S26 series often surpass the best Google Pixel devices in Pixel-like traits. Pixel phones have always stood out for their unique software, and since the Pixel 6 series, exclusive AI-based tools and features have been the major draw of Google's phones.
In 2026, it feels like anyone seeking out that OG Google software experience may be better off buying a Samsung phone instead. Ironically, the best Samsung Galaxy phones come with the best Google features (or Galaxy AI versions of them). Some of these AI features are even powered by Gemini, and most of them perform better than they do on Google Pixel phones.
The line between the Galaxy S26 and Pixel 10 is thinner than ever before
This is not a new direction Samsung is headed. The Korean smartphone manufacturer has been making a big hullabaloo about AI features since the Galaxy S24 launch. It's where all major smartphones have been headed for a while now.
AI has paved the way for incredibly capable and intuitive new tools and features in modern phones. Agentic AI is working on advancing automations powered by AI to a whole new level. We can now use natural language with our AI assistants and do more in shorter time frames.
Google pioneered the concept of AI being the heart and soul of a phone's coveted features with the Pixel 6 and the first Tensor chipset. Features like Magic Eraser and Live Translate broke the internet and showed the world that AI processors stood at the center of innovation in the smartphone industry. Samsung essentially ports these features to its phones, like the Galaxy S26, and often advances them even more than the latest Google phones, like the Pixel 10.
Look at Circle to Search and Interpreter on the S24 series, Audio Eraser and AI-suggested replies on the S25 series, or Creative Studio, which debuted with the S26 series. All of these features already exist to some extent on corresponding Google Pixel releases, some of them with the same names. Now Nudge feels like Samsung's version of Magic Cue. Even Samsung's Now Bar and Now Brief feel derivative of Google's At a Glance widget.
Notably, Samsung takes Google's own features and often makes them even better. We've seen this gradually over the last few Galaxy S series launches, but the gap in the advancement of such features on Galaxy and Pixel phones is more prominent now than ever.
Samsung's Photo Assist lets you give creative editing instructions in natural language, and you can even pluck an element from one photo and blend it into another. Pixel owners can make basic edits using natural language prompts via Ask Photos/Help Me Edit in Google Photos. However, the feature isn't widely available, even on Pixel 10 devices worldwide. At the time of writing, my Pixel 10 Pro, purchased in Malaysia at launch, still lacks this feature.
Samsung allowed Gemini access to third-party apps to run tasks on Galaxy phones before Google Pixel phones. Features like Audio Eraser, Now Bar, Now Nudge, and Photo Assist on the S26 series prove that Galaxy devices are more capable at features created by Google for Pixel devices.
Why you would buy a Galaxy S26 over a Pixel 10
In a way, this makes it easy to justify spending $100-$200 more on an S26-series phone than on the Pixel 10, and there are three very solid reasons to choose a Samsung Pixel over a Google Pixel. As I've already established, Samsung isn't just copying and pasting Google's AI features; it's improving them.
The second reason is pure, unadulterated power. There is no doubt about the raw processing prowess of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset found in the S26 series. Android Central's Harish Jonnalagadda pitted the SoC against Google's Tensor G5, and the Qualcomm chipset was clearly the better performer. When it comes to raw power for gaming and processor-heavy tasks like multitasking, anyone would pick a Samsung flagship over a Google one.
The third and final reason hits close to home. As a lover of magnetic Qi2 and all the wonders it enables, it's tough to face the music: plenty of people don't care that the S26 series does not have it. We asked our readers whether it's a dealbreaker if the Galaxy S26 doesn't have built-in Qi2 magnets. Of 1,100 responses, over 50% said the lack of magnetic charging is a dealbreaker, while 35% said it doesn't matter. To a large chunk of the consumer base, the lack of native Qi2 magnetic charging is of no consequence, especially when you're likely to throw a case on the phone anyway.
Why I still pick Google's Pixel over Samsung's Pixel, but most people shouldn't
We're two years in since I wrote about Samsung making a Pixel, so you don't have to buy one. At the time, I felt like Samsung was imitating Google but beating them at their own game.
Google is performing markedly better in the Android phone space now. I am once again primarily driving a Pixel every day, despite the Pixel 6, which was a fiasco in the long run.
From the Best Take feature to exclusive options like Direct My Call in Pixel Call Assist, the Pixel 10 has plenty of excellent AI features that keep things interesting and are the reason I keep coming back. I am obsessed with the Now Playing widget on the lock screen that instantly shows what song is being played around me. I love that I can yell "STOP!" at a ringing alarm to shut it up without having to set anything up in the Google Assistant app.
But most importantly, I get native magnetic Qi2 built into my Pixel 10 Pro. As someone who tinkers with smartphone accessories for a living, I value this feature significantly more than privacy screen tech, even if I'm not in the majority.
Pixel, but make it Galaxy
By going all in on Galaxy AI, incorporating more Gemini features, Samsung is undoubtedly beating Google Pixels at their own game. Most common people with jobs unlike mine are much better off with a Samsung flagship. They don't miss out on any of the flashiest "Pixel-exclusive" goodies. Instead, the Galaxy S26 comes with more advanced AI features that make the Pixel 10 stand out.
In the words of our managing editor, Derrek Lee, even if Samsung is reheating Google's nachos, it's at least giving them its own flair and adding its own sauce.
Even I have to admit I would have reconsidered my Pixel 10 Pro purchase had the S26 been released at the same time. If I had an extra $100 or $200 to spare, I just might've opted for the Galaxy over the Pixel. After all, a cheap and effective magnetic ring sticker can solve my need for magnetic Qi2 instead.
