SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics officially unveiled the Galaxy S26 FE on Thursday, introducing the latest entry in its “Fan Edition” lineup as a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Galaxy S26 series, with the device set to hit store shelves next week.
The launch continues a strategy Samsung has pursued for several years: offering a pared-down version of its flagship hardware and software at a more accessible price point, aimed at consumers who want many of the same features found in the company’s top-tier phones without paying full flagship prices. Here are 10 things to know about the new device.
1. It’s available starting next week
Advertisement
The Galaxy S26 FE will be available from select carriers starting Sept. 3, with nationwide availability in the United States beginning Sept. 4, according to Droid Life. Some carriers may offer the device a day earlier than the general release date.
2. It costs more than its predecessor
The new model will retail for $699 in the U.S., $50 more than the Galaxy S25 FE it replaces, according to How-To Geek. In Europe, the device is priced at €799. The price increase reflects a broader trend across Samsung’s 2026 lineup, with several models this year costing more than their predecessors.
3. It runs on a new, more efficient processor
Advertisement
The Galaxy S26 FE moves to a 3-nanometer Exynos 2500 chip, an upgrade from the 4-nanometer Exynos 2400 found in the previous generation. The newer manufacturing process is expected to deliver both improved performance and better power efficiency compared with last year’s model.
4. The display stays largely the same
The device features a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 1,900 nits, according to Droid Life. That represents continuity rather than a major upgrade over the S25 FE’s screen specifications.
5. It has a triple rear camera system
Advertisement
The Galaxy S26 FE ships with a 50-megapixel main wide-angle sensor, a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens, and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens offering 3x optical zoom. Samsung has also incorporated what it describes as advanced image processing improvements across the camera system compared with the prior generation.
6. The selfie camera got an upgrade
One of the more notable hardware changes is an upgraded 12-megapixel front-facing camera, which Samsung says is designed to capture more people in group shots, an improvement over the front camera used in the S25 FE.
7. Battery capacity increased slightly
Advertisement
The device comes equipped with a 4,900mAh battery supporting 45W wired charging, an increase over the battery capacity found in last year’s model, giving users modestly longer battery life between charges.
8. It borrows premium features from Samsung’s flagship lineup
Much of what sets the S26 FE apart from its predecessor comes through software rather than hardware. The device includes FanCam, a feature that debuted on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8 devices, which uses intelligent tracking to keep a selected subject centered and properly framed during video or photo capture. It also includes Super Steady video recording with Horizontal Lock, designed to keep footage level, along with improved Nightography low-light photography and Photo Assist editing tools.
9. It includes Samsung’s newest AI features
Advertisement
The Galaxy S26 FE ships with access to Now Nudge and Now Brief, AI-powered productivity features previously available on the Galaxy S26 and S25 series. Now Nudge is designed to help automate certain phone tasks, such as adding items to a calendar or surfacing relevant files based on context, according to Droid Life. The device runs Android 17 with Samsung’s One UI 9 software layer on top.
10. It comes with long-term software support and multiple color options
Samsung is offering the Galaxy S26 FE with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, an IP68 water and dust resistance rating, and what the company says will be seven years of software updates, extending the device’s usable lifespan well beyond typical smartphone upgrade cycles. The phone is available in three color options: Blueberry, Pistachio and Graphite.
Where it fits in Samsung’s lineup
Advertisement
The Galaxy S26 FE occupies a specific niche within Samsung’s broader Android lineup, positioned above budget options like the $550 Galaxy A57 5G but well below the pricing of Samsung’s full flagship Galaxy S26 series. How-To Geek described the device as landing in “sweet spots in both Samsung’s lineup and the Android phone market at large,” even as the company’s decision to raise the price by $50 over last year’s model has drawn some criticism from potential buyers weighing the value proposition against competitors.
A response to rising phone prices industrywide
The launch comes amid a broader trend of rising smartphone prices across the industry, driven in part by higher component costs, including memory chips. Samsung’s FE line has historically served as a counterweight to that trend, offering a way for budget-conscious consumers to access many flagship-level features without paying full price for the company’s top-tier devices.
With the Galaxy S26 FE now officially announced and set to reach store shelves within days, attention turns to how the device performs against both Samsung’s own more expensive Galaxy S26 lineup and competing devices from rivals like Apple, whose iPhone 18 Pro lineup is expected to launch later this month. For consumers deciding between generations, some reviewers have suggested that shoppers already satisfied with the Galaxy S25 FE may find the incremental upgrades in this year’s model, concentrated mainly in the processor and software rather than the core hardware, insufficient to justify an immediate upgrade.
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks climbed Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite leading the way, after blockbuster earnings from Nvidia eased investor concerns that the artificial intelligence spending boom might be losing steam.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 227.04 points, or 0.87%, to 26,357.24 as of 9:41 a.m. Eastern time, building on gains from earlier in the week. The rally was driven largely by strength in technology and chip stocks following a wave of earnings reports from some of the sector’s most closely watched companies.
Nvidia headlines a strong tech earnings slate
Nvidia shares surged as much as 7% Thursday after the chipmaker reported an earnings beat and signaled it expects strong AI demand to continue throughout the coming year, according to Yahoo Finance. The results helped ease growing concerns among investors that the AI chip giant would struggle to sustain its rapid pace of growth after several years of extraordinary expansion.
Advertisement
Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress signaled strong sales growth heading into fiscal 2028, according to Bloomberg, a forecast that sent the company’s shares higher in after-hours trading Wednesday and carried momentum into Thursday’s regular session. Futures tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index had already climbed roughly 1% in early Thursday trading ahead of the opening bell, reflecting investor relief over the outlook.
Nvidia wasn’t alone in powering the rally. Shares of Salesforce and CrowdStrike also jumped sharply after their own earnings reports, with CrowdStrike climbing more than 15% and Salesforce posting a similarly outsized gain, according to Yahoo Finance. Combined, the trio of earnings reports lifted sentiment across the broader technology trade heading into Thursday’s session.
A shift from Wednesday’s cautious tone
Thursday’s rally marked a notable turnaround from the prior session, when markets traded more cautiously as investors awaited Nvidia’s results. On Wednesday, stubborn inflation data from the Personal Consumption Expenditures index kept the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hovering near the flatline, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipping about 0.2% as traders weighed the implications for the Federal Reserve’s policy path ahead of its Jackson Hole gathering.
The renewed risk appetite among investors extended beyond equities. Bitcoin has staged one of its strongest rallies in years, climbing 23.6% over the past week and breaking through the $80,000 mark for the first time since mid-May, according to comments from Valerio Baselli, a senior international editor, cited by TheStreet. The world’s largest cryptocurrency pulled back slightly in premarket trading Thursday but remained well above levels seen just weeks earlier.
All eyes on the Federal Reserve
Advertisement
Even with Thursday’s tech-driven optimism, investors remained focused on the Federal Reserve’s upcoming Jackson Hole symposium, a closely watched gathering where central bank officials often signal their thinking on future interest rate policy. Wednesday’s inflation data, which showed price pressures remaining sticky, added an extra layer of uncertainty heading into the event, tempering enthusiasm somewhat even as tech earnings provided a fresh catalyst for buying.
A pattern of AI-driven volatility
Thursday’s gains reflect a broader pattern that has defined markets for much of the year: outsized sensitivity to any signal, positive or negative, about the durability of AI-related spending. Just one day earlier, stocks had traded cautiously specifically because investors were bracing for Nvidia’s results, underscoring how central the company has become to overall market sentiment.
That sensitivity cuts both ways. Nvidia and its semiconductor peers have experienced sharp swings throughout the year as investors have alternated between enthusiasm over AI’s growth potential and periodic bouts of profit-taking driven by valuation concerns. Morgan Stanley and other major banks have continued to raise price targets on Nvidia even through volatile stretches, reflecting a broadly bullish long-term view among many Wall Street analysts even as short-term trading remains choppy.
Advertisement
Broader market context
The rally in chip and AI-related stocks has also been influenced by policy developments earlier this year, including moves to ease restrictions on chip exports and new AI infrastructure deals involving international partners such as Saudi Arabia. Those developments have periodically boosted sentiment around the durability of the broader “Magnificent Seven” rally that has powered much of the stock market’s gains over the past several years, even as questions persist about trade policy and its effects on global technology supply chains.
With Nvidia’s results now in hand and delivering the reassurance investors had been seeking, attention is likely to shift toward the Fed’s Jackson Hole gathering and any signals central bank officials offer about the future path of interest rates. Given how closely intertwined technology stocks have become with the broader market’s overall direction, continued strength in AI-related earnings could help sustain Thursday’s rally, while any signs of slowing demand in future reports could just as quickly reverse the current momentum.
For now, Thursday’s session offered a clear signal: as long as companies at the center of the AI boom continue delivering results that match or exceed elevated investor expectations, the market appears willing to keep pushing higher, even amid lingering questions about inflation, interest rates and the long-term sustainability of the current technology-driven rally.
Affirm Holdings, Inc. (AFRM) Q4 2026 Earnings Call August 27, 2026 5:00 PM EDT
Company Participants
Zane Keller – Head of Investor Relations Max Levchin – Founder, CEO & Chairman Robert O’Hare – Chief Financial Officer
Advertisement
Conference Call Participants
Adam Frisch – Evercore ISI Institutional Equities, Research Division Harry Bartlett – Rothschild & Co Redburn, Research Division Harshita Rawat – Bernstein Institutional Services LLC, Research Division Robert Wildhack – Autonomous Research US LP William Nance – Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Research Division Dan Dolev – Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Research Division Jason Kupferberg – Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Research Division James Faucette – Morgan Stanley, Research Division Connor Allen – JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division Bryan Keane – Citigroup Inc., Research Division Matthew O’Neill – BofA Securities, Research Division Andrew Bauch – BMO Capital Markets Equity Research Moshe Orenbuch – TD Cowen, Research Division Darrin Peller – Wolfe Research, LLC Daniel Perlin – RBC Capital Markets, Research Division John Hecht – Jefferies LLC, Research Division Timothy Chiodo – UBS Investment Bank, Research Division
Presentation
Advertisement
Operator
Good afternoon. Welcome to the Affirm Holdings Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, and a replay of the call will be available on our Investor Relations website for a reasonable period of time after the call.
I’d now like to turn the call over to Zane Keller, Head of Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin.
Advertisement
Zane Keller Head of Investor Relations
Thank you, operator. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone listening that today’s call may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those set forth in our filings with the SEC, which are available on our Investor Relations website. Our actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statements that we make today. These forward-looking statements speak only as of today, and the company does not assume any
Lord Abbett is an independent, privately held, global asset manager and one of the oldest money management firms in the United States. They manage assets across a full range of U.S. mutual funds, UCITS funds, institutional and separately managed accounts for clients around the world. Note: This account is not managed or monitored by Lord Abbett, and any messages sent via Seeking Alpha will not receive a response. For inquiries or communication, please use Lord Abbett’s official channels.
Diamond Hill Capital Management, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Diamond Hill Investment Group, Inc. Diamond Hill Investment Group is a publicly traded company, and its shares trade on the NASDAQ (Ticker: DHIL). Note: This account is not managed or monitored by Diamond Hill Capital Management, and any messages sent via Seeking Alpha will not receive a response. For inquiries or communication, please use Diamond Hill Capital Management’s official channels.
SAN FRANCISCO — Salesforce shares surged Thursday, climbing as much as 19% to $244.72, after the enterprise software giant delivered a blowout quarterly earnings report that far exceeded Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year revenue guidance, driven largely by explosive growth in its Agentforce artificial intelligence platform.
The stock jumped $39.10 in trading Thursday morning, extending gains that began after the company reported its fiscal second-quarter results Wednesday evening. The move marked one of Salesforce’s strongest single-day performances in recent memory, following a report that Wall Street analysts described as its most convincing beat in several quarters.
A quarter that crushed estimates
Salesforce reported fiscal 2027 second-quarter revenue of $11.345 billion for the period ended July 31, up nearly 11% from a year earlier and slightly above Street estimates of roughly $11.32 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $5.90, obliterating analyst expectations of around $3.27 per share, a beat of more than 80%.
Advertisement
Net income climbed to $3.53 billion, or $4.29 per diluted share, up 87% from $1.89 billion, or $1.96 per share, a year earlier. A significant portion of that jump was driven by a roughly $2.6 billion gain tied to Salesforce’s strategic investment in AI startup Anthropic, which was valued at $965 billion following a funding round earlier this year. Free cash flow also spiked 81% to $1.10 billion, well above the consensus estimate of about $643 million.
Agentforce becomes the story
While the headline numbers impressed investors, the bigger driver behind Thursday’s rally was Salesforce’s rapidly accelerating AI business. Annual recurring revenue from Agentforce and the company’s Data 360 platform reached nearly $3.9 billion, up more than 210% year over year, while Agentforce revenue alone exceeded $1.5 billion, growing more than 240% from the prior year.
Salesforce also reported that current remaining performance obligation, a forward-looking measure of contracted revenue expected to be recognized over the next year, reached $33.5 billion, topping analyst expectations of $33.22 billion, according to figures compiled by StreetAccount.
Advertisement
On the earnings call, Salesforce executives directly pushed back against skeptics who had questioned whether AI agents would disrupt the company’s traditional software business. One executive described a surge in AI-driven platform usage on the call, saying, “Agentic use of the platform surged sixfold via Model Context Protocol calls,” according to a transcript published by Investing.com. Executives also noted that customer attrition remained near its lowest level ever, seat counts across Agentforce, Sales, Service and Slack grew year over year, and contract lengths improved across all business segments — trends they framed as a direct rebuttal to fears that generative AI models would erode demand for traditional customer relationship management software.
Raised guidance adds fuel
Beyond the quarterly beat, Salesforce raised its full-year revenue guidance to a range of $46.1 billion to $46.4 billion, a signal to investors that management expects the current momentum in AI-related bookings to continue through the rest of the fiscal year. The company also announced an expanded partnership with Anthropic, deepening ties between the two companies as Salesforce continues integrating advanced AI models into its platform.
A stock that had fallen sharply before rebounding
Advertisement
Thursday’s surge represents a dramatic reversal for a stock that had struggled for much of 2026. As of Wednesday’s close, Salesforce shares were down roughly 22% year to date, even as the broader S&P 500 index had gained about 12% over the same period. That underperformance stemmed largely from investor anxiety earlier in the year that generative AI tools, including agentic systems built by companies like Anthropic, could render traditional enterprise software increasingly obsolete — fears that contributed to a broader roughly $2 trillion sell-off across software stocks industry-wide in early 2026.
Sentiment had already begun shifting in the weeks leading up to Thursday’s earnings report, however. Salesforce shares climbed 25% over the month heading into the report, fueled by growing investor confidence in Agentforce’s traction, alongside a $27.5 billion stock buyback program covering roughly 10% of the company’s fully diluted share count. Prediction market Polymarket had assigned a 91% probability to Salesforce beating earnings expectations ahead of Wednesday’s release, according to Yahoo Finance.
For Salesforce, Thursday’s rally represents a pivotal moment in the company’s yearslong effort to convince investors that its bet on AI agents can drive sustained growth rather than simply defend against disruption. With Agentforce annual recurring revenue more than tripling year over year and management projecting continued momentum through the rest of the fiscal year, the quarter offered some of the clearest evidence yet that the company’s AI strategy is translating into measurable financial results.
Still, analysts noted that the key question going forward is whether this quarter’s rapid growth can be sustained in the periods ahead, rather than representing a temporary surge tied to early enterprise adoption. Investors will be watching subsequent quarters closely for confirmation that Agentforce’s momentum can continue at a similar pace, particularly as competition in the enterprise AI space continues to intensify among software providers racing to integrate agentic capabilities into their platforms.
Yes. Corporate subscriptions are available for teams and organisations, with discounted rates as user numbers increase. Pricing starts from $1,625 + GST per user. Get in touch
to discuss the right option for your organisation.
Business News subscriptions are used by executives, investors, consultants and professionals who need to stay informed and make better decisions about the WA market. When you subscribe you’ll get
Unlimited access to WA’s most trusted business journalism
Data & Insights — detailed profiles of WA companies, people, projects and deals
MyBN — a personalised feed based on the companies, people and sectors you follow
Special publications and industry reports
Daily and weekly email newsletters
Data & Insights is a research tool built specifically for the WA market. It draws on more than 30 years of Business News reporting, updated regularly to reflect what’s happening now. Use it to:
Look up detailed profiles of WA companies, including financials, directors and ownership
Find decision-makers and track their career movements
Research live and completed projects across WA industries
Monitor deals, appointments and market activity
Access industry rankings and league tables
Data & Insights is updated daily by our dedicated research team, which uses the latest announcements, ASX filings and editorial coverage to keep our person, company, list and project records up to date.
Business News welcome all opportunities to make our dataset accurate, complete and current, so if you have an update request, please email the team at general@businessnews.com.au, and we’d be happy to assist.
Advertisement
MyBN
is part of every subscription. It’s your personalised view of Business News. You can follow the companies, people, sectors and projects that matter to you, and get a news feed and alerts tailored to your interests. You can save articles to read later and retain only what you need.
Only subscribers have full access to all content on the Business News website.
Advertisement
If staying informed about the WA economy is part of your job, and/or you’re looking for networking opportunities in WA, Business News is built for you.
Business News subscribers are:
Executives and directors tracking competitors, clients and market movements
Investors and advisers researching companies, deals and industry trends
Consultants and professionals staying across sectors relevant to their clients
Business owners looking for leads, context and market intelligence
Most Business News publications cover national or global markets. Business News is focused entirely on Western Australia, which means the journalism, the data and the intelligence are all built around WA companies, people and projects — not adapted from a national feed. Data & Insights, included with every subscription, combines more than 30 years of WA-specific editorial research with live business data. There’s no comparable product for the WA market.
Advertisement
The Morning Digest Email provides a comprehensive wrap of the major headlines, relevant to WA business, and includes with a snapshot of the overnight news covering oil, gold and ASX-listed companies.
The Afternoon Wrap Email focuses on the news covered by our team of journalists during the course of the working day, including exclusive stories and analysis, all of which relates to WA business and the local economy.
The BN Weekender Email contains a wrap of the Business News from the week that was, highlighting the top stories in each area of WA business. Sign up for free.
Advertisement
We’re happy to help. Get in touch
and our team will come back to you.
The investors claim they were told that “Selena Gomez, one of the most famous women on earth, with a billion-dollar brand and a platform unmatched in social media, would be actively building the company as its head of marketing”.
Gomez’s attorney Matthew Rosengart says their allegations are “vague, generalised and contradictory” and that Gomez never agreed to, and did not, manage the company, or make the kind of commitments they are suggesting.
The emphatic pushback from Gomez may reflect a concern for her reputation but it also leaves her mother in the hot-seat, facing the fraud allegations alongside the company itself and a third co-founder.
Crisis PR commentator, Lauren Beeching, founder of Honest London says Gomez is far from the first celebrity to try working with a close family member. At times it can come off like in the Jenner-Kardashian household or with the tennis-playing Williams sisters.
Advertisement
But there are plenty of examples – from the Beckhams’ to Britney Spears – where family brands and business don’t mix well.
Working with close relatives, whether that’s a sibling or a parent, or someone else is almost always a higher risk approach, says Beeching.
“It can make the boundaries between the personal relationship with the business and the celebrity’s reputation much harder to separate,” she says.
The natural level of trust means that you might not apply the same rules as you would in a normal commercial relationhsip, so better guardrails are needed, she says.
Advertisement
“If you’re going into business [as a] family, I’d put more structure around it, not less, for sure.
“Define everybody’s responsibilities, bring in independent oversight, and decide what happens if something goes wrong before something goes wrong.”
“A family relationship shouldn’t be a company’s governance structure.”
At the end of the day Gomez may not need to worry too much over this case, says Beeching
Advertisement
“This will generate headlines because Selena Gomez is enormously famous, but I don’t think it’s the type of story her core audience is particularly interested in.
“There’s an important difference between generating negative headlines and causing lasting reputational damage. “
Still, for celebrities considering trading on their personal brand, she does have words of advice.
“Before lending your name to a company, don’t ask what your reputation could do for the business. Ask what that business can eventually do for your reputation as well.”
Yes. Corporate subscriptions are available for teams and organisations, with discounted rates as user numbers increase. Pricing starts from $1,625 + GST per user. Get in touch
to discuss the right option for your organisation.
Business News subscriptions are used by executives, investors, consultants and professionals who need to stay informed and make better decisions about the WA market. When you subscribe you’ll get
Unlimited access to WA’s most trusted business journalism
Data & Insights — detailed profiles of WA companies, people, projects and deals
MyBN — a personalised feed based on the companies, people and sectors you follow
Special publications and industry reports
Daily and weekly email newsletters
Data & Insights is a research tool built specifically for the WA market. It draws on more than 30 years of Business News reporting, updated regularly to reflect what’s happening now. Use it to:
Look up detailed profiles of WA companies, including financials, directors and ownership
Find decision-makers and track their career movements
Research live and completed projects across WA industries
Monitor deals, appointments and market activity
Access industry rankings and league tables
Data & Insights is updated daily by our dedicated research team, which uses the latest announcements, ASX filings and editorial coverage to keep our person, company, list and project records up to date.
Business News welcome all opportunities to make our dataset accurate, complete and current, so if you have an update request, please email the team at general@businessnews.com.au, and we’d be happy to assist.
Advertisement
MyBN
is part of every subscription. It’s your personalised view of Business News. You can follow the companies, people, sectors and projects that matter to you, and get a news feed and alerts tailored to your interests. You can save articles to read later and retain only what you need.
Only subscribers have full access to all content on the Business News website.
Advertisement
If staying informed about the WA economy is part of your job, and/or you’re looking for networking opportunities in WA, Business News is built for you.
Business News subscribers are:
Executives and directors tracking competitors, clients and market movements
Investors and advisers researching companies, deals and industry trends
Consultants and professionals staying across sectors relevant to their clients
Business owners looking for leads, context and market intelligence
Most Business News publications cover national or global markets. Business News is focused entirely on Western Australia, which means the journalism, the data and the intelligence are all built around WA companies, people and projects — not adapted from a national feed. Data & Insights, included with every subscription, combines more than 30 years of WA-specific editorial research with live business data. There’s no comparable product for the WA market.
Advertisement
The Morning Digest Email provides a comprehensive wrap of the major headlines, relevant to WA business, and includes with a snapshot of the overnight news covering oil, gold and ASX-listed companies.
The Afternoon Wrap Email focuses on the news covered by our team of journalists during the course of the working day, including exclusive stories and analysis, all of which relates to WA business and the local economy.
The BN Weekender Email contains a wrap of the Business News from the week that was, highlighting the top stories in each area of WA business. Sign up for free.
Advertisement
We’re happy to help. Get in touch
and our team will come back to you.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login