As a Pixel fan, the Galaxy S26 needs these 5 things before you buy it

As a Pixel fan who has been happily using a Pixel 10 Pro since August, I’m not particularly intrigued by what we’ve heard so far about the Samsung Galaxy S26 series. In typical Samsung fashion, it looks like this year’s phones will be another round of iterative updates with no game-changing new features. Surprise, I know.

Still, there’s always the chance that Samsung has a surprise or two up its sleeve. And with enough of them, the company could well tempt me to abandon my Pixel.

Will that happen? Almost certainly not. But if so, there are five things that would make me switch from my Pixel to a shiny new Galaxy S26 when it likely launches next month.

The first item on my list, and one that is likely to happen, is built-in Qi2 magnetic charging. I have been obsessed with Qi2 since I got the Pixel 10 Pro last year. I have a magnetic charging pad on my bedroom nightstand, a magnetic wallet that I carry all my cards in, and several Qi2 battery packs.

I know some people don’t understand the obsession with built-in magnets when you can add them to almost any phone with a case, but as someone who rarely uses a case, this is a big deal. The Pixel 10 Pro has completely spoiled me in this regard, and the good news is that the entire Galaxy S26 series is on track to include built-in Qi2 magnets as well.

Another feature that would steer me away from the Pixel 10 Pro is fast wired charging. As much as I enjoy using my Pixel, its 30W wired charging speed is annoying. It’s fine when I plug the phone in overnight or if I’m not in a hurry to recharge the battery, but it’s not at all conducive to charging a large percentage of the battery in a short period of time.

In a world where 60W, 80W, and even faster charging exists, sticking with 30W on the Pixel 10 Pro is one of the phone’s biggest downsides.

This is another area where the Galaxy S26 could perform, but not as much as I would like. One of the latest rumors claims that the base S26 will support up to 45W wired charging, up from 25W on the S25 and other previous models. It’s great to see, but if I switch from a Pixel phone to a Samsung phone, I’d want a truly transformative charge, not just a minor upgrade.

One of my favorite features of the Pixel 10 Pro (besides the built-in magnets) has been its camera, specifically, the telephoto sensor. It was a lot of fun shooting with the 5x optical zoom lens. The 5x and 10x shots are very easy to take and look excellent, while Google’s ProRes Zoom feature allows for 50x and even 100x shots that are surprisingly decent.

I know Samsung has offered impressive telephoto zoom on its phones for some time now, but this is always reserved for the Ultra, a phone that I find extremely uncomfortable to use. Having this amount of zoom range in a phone as compact as the Pixel 10 Pro is incredible, and if the regular Galaxy S26 had the same camera zoom we’ve come to expect on the S26 Ultra, that would catch my attention.

Unfortunately, that almost certainly won’t happen. Reports suggest that the S26 will have the same camera setup as the S25, including a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x zoom and a maximum zoom of up to 30x. That is, not at all at the same level as the Pixel.

When Google launched the Pixel 8 series in 2023, one of its standout features was secure face unlock. Using a regular front camera and no additional biometric hardware, the phones’ face unlock feature was secure enough to not only bypass the lock screen but also unlock sensitive apps and approve Google Wallet purchases.

The feature is still available today on the Pixel 10 series, and while it’s not talked about much, it’s by far one of my favorite things about modern Pixel phones. The Pixel 10 Pro’s fingerprint sensor is great, but I rarely have to use it because the face unlock is so good. When I open my banking or credit card app, my face is immediately scanned and I’m on my way; It’s wonderful.

No other Android phone has replicated this type of face unlock using just the front camera, but if the Galaxy S26 somehow includes it, it would certainly put it on my radar in a way it currently isn’t. It’s unlikely to happen, but if it does, Samsung would be that much closer to keeping my money.

My final request is perhaps the least realistic, but if Samsung really wants to convert this Pixel user to the Galaxy S26, this is the last thing that would have to happen.

I know Samsung’s One UI software has its fans, but I’ve never really liked it, especially the latest One UI 8.5 beta, which is riddled with too many iOS inspirations. Meanwhile, Google’s Material 3 Expressive UI for Android 16 is one of the best Android skins I’ve used; It’s whimsical, responsive, and somehow still clean and uncluttered in a way that One UI has never felt before.

Samsung isn’t about to discard its own software design in favor of Google’s… but what if it did? Well, I would have to seriously consider making the Galaxy S26 my next Android phone.

To reiterate, I don’t expect the Galaxy S26 to ship with all of these things when it’s announced late next month. Still, it’s fun to think about what it could be and give Samsung some clues as to how it could steal at least one Pixel fan in future releases.

If you’re a Pixel user, would any of these features convince you to upgrade to the Galaxy S26? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments.