I've now played with every Samsung Galaxy S26 version, and I'm surprised how eye-catching this online exclusive is

If you’re a keen purveyor of Samsung news, you may have noticed something about the new Samsung Galaxy S26 phones.

When media and content creators released their videos or articles covering the devices alongside Unpacked in February, some of the phones were missing.

I was one of those press testers; while we were allowed to play around with the S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra at launch, not all the color models were present (at least for me, though Samsung hosts many of these around the globe).

The four main shades were captured in full, from a range of angles and in different combinations (I took over 300 pictures when I was shown the phones and earbuds), but two more models are on sale.

At the annual tech show MWC 2026, which fell between Galaxy Unpacked and the phones’ on-sale date, Samsung let me play around with the two extra colors of Galaxy S26 which haven’t been seen as much. And I must say, one such hue has really won me over.

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Posts By  Stephen Radochia

What are the Samsung Galaxy S26 colors?

Meet Pink Gold and Silver Shadow

There are two members of the Galaxy S26 line that are deemed Exclusive Colors, and this means that they’re only on sale from Samsung’s physical and online retail stores. You can’t pick them up from Amazon, Walmart or Target.

This year, but unlike in some past years, all three Galaxy models get the same exclusive and non-exclusive colors.

First up, we have Pink Gold (though it’s called Rose Gold by some retailers too, confusingly). This clads the phone in a faint pinkish dusting, which doesn’t show up too well in listings but hopefully can be seen a little better in my pictures. It’s ‘pink’ from the Apple school of thought: gentle, pastel.

Then there’s the Silver Shadow model, which I couldn’t get my eyes off. Online listings might show this to be a gray option, but it was a lot more eye-catching than they suggest: ‘Silver’ really is an accurate descriptor.

These join White, Black, Sky Blue and Cobalt Violet. The first two are standard for phones and the third is a fun and vibrant shade, which is also quite fun. Cobalt Violet is the model of Galaxy S26 Ultra I have: it’s very dark gray, but under the right light shows up its purple side.

Why Silver Shadow is the real winner

No shade on the shadow

I’m usually a fan of super-vibrant phones. I like the bright pink Nothing Phone (4a), the Berry Google Pixel 10a, and any of Motorola’s Pantone partnership phones. Were I ever to cross to the iPhone camp, that Cosmic Orange model speaks to me, and the Project Red handsets of yore constantly caught my eye.

I was expecting, then, the Pink Gold model of Galaxy S26 to be the one which caught my eye. But this wasn’t the case at all. Nor was it the Sky Blue model, despite this being the more traditionally ‘colorful.’ It’s the Silver Shadow that I found my eyes drawn to.

This looks fabulously understated. In the wrong light, it’s a sleek chrome block, but I found it to really play with the luminescence of a room and reflect light back. You can see this in pictures: at worst it’s still smart, but at best it’s a shiny steel blade.

Most of the pictures I took show the Silver Shadow model looking like some liquid metal block. The T-1000 turned into a smartphone, as long as the lighting is in the right place. It sparkled more than the other members of the line-up, yet didn’t seem gaudy or garish.

In the pictures it has more than a hint of blue (I had to double-check I hadn’t accidentally photographed the Sky Blue model), but in person I didn’t pick up on this.

Spare a thought for the shiniest Galaxy S26 member

Give the colors a chance

Big Samsung fans will also find the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro available in an online-exclusive Pink Gold, which I saw for the first time at MWC (though they were shown to most press before, I just missed them).

Having used the White model for several weeks, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider sneakily swapping around the test model and my unit, so I could keep a hold of the rose version.

I’ve covered tech long enough to know that it’s usually only the black or white models of a phone that get sold widely, unless one certain hue makes a particular splash, and I’m not expecting the Samsung Galaxy S26 series to be any different.

Bland, boring flagship phone colors are the norm, sadly.

If you’re considering buying these phones, I’d wager that those versions are the ones you’re spending most time thinking about, with blue and violet perhaps crossing your mind briefly.

But I’d be very surprised if many people gave serious thought to Rose Gold or Silver Shadow at all, and I imagine it’s because they’re harder to come by.

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I don’t know many people who’d abandon their favorite retailer just to pick up a specific color of phone, and from my experience, Samsung exclusives tend to fall a little under the radar.

After all, the retailer doesn’t exactly have the shopping perks or big-discount sales as, say, Amazon.

That’s doubly so given how many people pay no mind to colors at all, as a case will be covering their smartphone anyway. Not everyone is like my partner, who chose her phone as it had the same colors as her sports team.

But if you’re like me, and you choose to rock a case-less smartphone bearing a color you connect with, I’d really recommend checking out Samsung’s two exclusive colors.

They really pop and add an extra element to the phone. If you live near a Samsung store, it’s certainly worth visiting to check them out.

According to reports, the Galaxy S26 has proven a massive hit for Samsung, and hopefully a lot of those people are buying from Samsung’s stores to discover these two funky variants.

Samsung Galaxy S26

SoC
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
RAM
12 GB
Storage
256 or 512 GB
Battery
4,300 mAh

$900 at Samsung
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