Galaxy S26 may miss a major camera upgrade, and the real story goes deeper than leaks suggest

It's been a while since Samsung upgraded the camera setup on the vanilla Galaxy S model. However, it seems that the Galaxy S26 isn't going to change this, apparently. Rumor has it that Samsung may have given up on upgrading the Galaxy S26's camera system... well, to save money. 

Galaxy S26's lack of camera upgrades could be in favor of a steady price 

A new report from South Korea indicates that Samsung may have planned something for the Galaxy S26 camera initially, but may have abandoned that idea to keep the pricing steady. 

The rising component prices may have forced Samsung to abandon the idea of a camera upgrade for the base Galaxy S26 model. Reportedly, the South Korean tech giant had wanted to keep $859 as the starting price for its 'vanilla' flagship.


Apple didn't raise the price of its base iPhone, the iPhone 17. That could have influenced the South Korean giant to hold the price hike away from its base flagship for one more year.

If this report is true, it would confirm previous rumors about the lack of notable upgrades in the camera system of the Galaxy S26. You can expect the same 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide, and a 10MP 3x zoom camera.  

There won't be (likely) any major improvements in image quality. Of course, some improvements, thanks to the newer chip and improved image processing, are not impossible, though. 

Delay because of that last-minute change

Reportedly, the changed decision of Samsung about the camera upgrade may have led the company to redesign some of the parts for the phone. That is cited in the report as being a reason for delaying the mass production of the Galaxy S26 and S26+. 

It seems that only the galaxy S26 Ultra is going to enter mass production this month, which means that the other two phones from the Galaxy S trio are going to enter mass production at the end of January. 

Rumors were already claiming there's a delay, and this year the Galaxy S26 lineup may get announced later than in previous years. This leak is yet another piece of the puzzle, indicating that we're looking at a more likely February release for the trio.

Another potential reason for the delay, that was cited earlier by rumors and leaks, is Samsung's rumored decision to abandon the Galaxy S26 Edge model. Initially, the company was rumored to replace the Plus model in the lineup with the ultra-slim Galaxy S26 Edge, something that reportedly isn't happening.

Galaxy S26 series: will there be enough reason to get excited? 

There's been quite a lot of talk in the past few months about Samsung's flagship trio. Some of the rumors are rather exciting, but the majority of them seem to indicate that there may not be a lot of huge upgrades. And that's a bit disappointing in my opinion, as Samsung's been somewhat resting on its laurels in the past couple of years. 

One upgrade that could get me excited is the rumored AI-revamp of Bixby. The design tweaks and the Qi2 charging are also interesting. At least for me, those are reasons that could potentially attract my attention. But... will it be enough to fight the competition?

In my opinion, Samsung needs to give us more in terms of sheer upgrades and innovation. Things are starting to look repetitive. Of course, we don't generally want some huge price hikes either, but the company should give us something. Maybe it's time for Samsung to rethink its strategy.