Galaxy S26 Has No Magnets Because Samsung Wants You to Buy Its Magnetic Cases Instead

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series launched a couple of days ago, and many of you know that magnets are not included in either phone after all. Well, Samsung’s R&D chief has decided to explain why that is.

The information comes from Woo-Joon Choi, the executive in charge of both R&D and operations for Samsung’s mobile business. He said that the added thickness of mangets is a bad tradeoff to make.

The Galaxy S26 series doesn’t have magnets becuase Samsung thinks you’ll buy a case anyway

In fact, he brought up cases in the whole conversation. His logic is that people are going to buy a case either way, so there’s no sense in including magnets in the phone itself. This is the exact quote he gave to The Verge: “About 80 or 90 percent of people are using a case, and cases with magnets are very popular these days.”

Samsung would rather use the extra space to give the phone a larger battery or make it thinner, he says. Bringing a battery into the conversation doesn’t make much sense, as it has the same capacity as its predecessor, and a considerably smaller battery than many of the competitors. It is slightly thinner than the competitors with magnets included, but the difference is negligible.

The company is still looking into magnets, though, it seems. He said: “We’re still doing a lot of research to make sure we don’t have any sacrifice inside the phone; when we actually achieve that, we’ll integrate.”

Part of the explanation Samsung’s exec offered doesn’t make much sense

This doesn’t sound like a good enough explanation. And just like The Verge, I personally do not agree with this premise. The iPhone 17 Pro Max and Pixel 10 Pro XL, phones with magnets included, are barely thicker than the Galaxy S26 Ultra (for example), and they don’t exactly have smaller batteries either.

I personally would definitely prefer magnets to be included, as I usually use phones without cases. The vast majority of cases add bulk, and they cover up the design of the phone, which I usually don’t want to cover. Companies spend time and money to design phones for a reason.

Not many people will care, though, as a lot of them use cases, and Samsung has magnets in all of its cases, so… there you go. Here’s our hands-on coverage with the Galaxy S26 series, in case you’re interested. There’s also a giveaway on the site, in case you’re interested.