Samsung is giving up on the Galaxy S26 Edge because, surprise, surprise, copying Apple doesn’t always work out.
Well, it’s happened. Apparently, Samsung has decided to cancel the Galaxy S26 Edge. In a tragic, disappointing, and entirely unexpected move, there won’t be a second generation of Samsung’s ultra-thin flagship. And, as someone who has spent plenty of time with the Galaxy S26 Edge, comparing it to just about every other flagship out there, let me tell you, I’m shocked.
Except I’m not. I’m not shocked, even a little bit. Samsung’s goal with the Galaxy S25 Edge was clear from the start: To mooch off the hype for Apple’s upcoming iPhone Air. It wanted to beat Apple to the punch, but in its haste, forgot how to make that punch land, and now there’s no escaping its most obvious copycat attempt yet.You can’t beat Apple with a half-baked idea
I still remember Samsung’s first teaser of the Galaxy S25 Edge, almost as if it were only a few months ago — because it was. Samsung included a clip of its ultra-thin smartphone coming together at the very end of its larger Galaxy S25 announcement, and it gave me just a glimmer of hope. After all, I’d been left so underwhelmed by the second annual Galaxy S24 launch that I was looking for any sign of life out of Samsung.
However, by the time Samsung pulled the covers all the way back in May 2025, it was clear that it had only mostly thought through its latest big idea. Although the Galaxy S25 Edge certainly met the criteria for being thin, it did so at the expense of its telephoto camera, battery capacity, and cooling technology — all of which are pretty important when you don’t have Apple’s degree of control over optimization.
And, while I was more than happy to marvel at Samsung’s design from the moment I took the Edge out of its extra-thin box, I felt like the good times stopped there.
