No surprise: Samsung just gave the Samsung Galaxy S26 a perfect design score

Samsung released the Galaxy S26 series last month, and the phones have a few design changes compared to their predecessors. The company has now shared more details about the design process.

Samsung held a press conference in Korea to discuss the design and development process of the Galaxy S26 series (h/t: Chosun Biz), and one executive had high praise for the phones.

“I would like to give the product design a perfect score,” Samsung executive Lee Ji-Young was quoted as saying about the Galaxy S26. It’s unclear whether she was referring to the base Galaxy S26 model or the entire series.

It’s no surprise to hear that the people behind the Galaxy S26 series design would rate their phones so highly in this regard. Nevertheless, another Samsung representative elaborated on the design choices.

Samsung explains Galaxy S26 design approach

Executive Lee Il-hwan claimed that the phones now have similar designs. The Galaxy S26 Ultra offers the same rounded corners as the S26 and S26 Plus. By contrast, the S25 Ultra had less rounded corners than its stablemates. He added that Samsung used a 7R curvature for the “optimal corner curvature.”

The Galaxy S26 phones are also thinner than before, but have a camera island design. That means the camera lenses sit atop a pill-shaped step. The representative reportedly said this decision was taken to reduce the visual height difference between the cameras and the rest of the phone’s body. In other words, it creates a smoother transition between the camera bump and the rear cover.

Samsung also switched from a titanium frame to aluminum for the Galaxy S26 Ultra. This comes months after Apple made the same decision for the iPhone 17 series.

“The most important factor we considered was the integration of the back and sides,” Lee Ji-Young said of the switch to aluminum (h/t: Business Korea). “We selected the material while considering whether its durability was sufficient for a premium product.”