Samsung's Galaxy S26 price hike is reportedly not settled and may remain so until 'the last minute'
Although it's clearly slim, there's still a chance that the S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra will cost the same as their predecessors at launch.
All our questions will finally be answered soon. | Image by Samsung
What if the Galaxy S26 family ultimately follows the S25 trio's example?
Did you know that Samsung co-CEO and Head of Mobile eXperience Business TM Roh "agonized" over the possibility of a Galaxy S25 series price hike "until the day before" the devices were formally unveiled in January 2025 and "ultimately decided to freeze" the family's price tags compared to the Galaxy S24 trio to better compete against Apple?
The S25 Ultra was clearly a hit in large part because it kept the S24 Ultra's price tag unchanged. | Image by PhoneArena
That's apparently a true story (translated here)... that could be repeated this year. The difference, of course, is that Samsung is dealing with a much higher increase in component costs this time around due to an explosion in memory prices, and this is unlikely to be offset by the significantly smaller reduction in manufacturing expenses generated by using an in-house Exynos 2600 SoC for the "vanilla" S26 and the S26+.
Unfortunately for the world's number two smartphone vendor, the industry's number one player is expected to "exert its strong negotiating power with suppliers" and find a way to keep the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max at around the same prices as last year's iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max.
Combined with Apple's decision to release the "vanilla" iPhone 17 in the fall of 2025 at the same starting price as the iPhone 16 while doubling the entry-level storage space and bringing a bunch of other important upgrades to the table, this is reportedly making TM Roh's life even harder than back at the beginning of last year.
Should Samsung try to avoid a Galaxy S26 price hike at all costs?
But as implausible as it sounds after an onslaught of recent rumors labeling the price increase of the Galaxy S26 lineup as a sure thing, a final decision may not have been made yet (at least in South Korea), and it could come down to the "very last minute" before next week's launch event.
"Double storage" deals are still on the cards
As if hearing over and over again these last couple of months that the S26 family will be costlier than the S25 roster was not bad enough for hardcore Samsung fans, multiple reports suggested at one point that the company was also planning to put an end to a popular promotion that's essentially become a tradition for every new Galaxy S and Z generation in the past few years.
You might still be able to pre-order a Galaxy S26 Ultra with 512GB storage at the same price as a 256GB variant. | Image by Evan Blass
I'm talking, of course, about "free" storage upgrades, but today's Korean media story corroborates another recent report, predicting that this pre-order deal will be back after all, giving early Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and Galaxy S26 Ultra adopters the chance to buy 512GB variants at the normal prices of their entry-level 256GB equivalents.
What's unclear for the time being is whether that will apply to the entire world or just select markets like Samsung's homeland. Unfortunately, there's not a lot that we can do other than wait, hope for the best, and prepare for the worst as far as both starting prices and launch offers are concerned.
Will the Galaxy S26 series fend off the iPhone 18 Pro duo if prices go up?
I really don't think so, which is why I'd like to plead (once again) for Samsung's executives to make the right decision at the "last minute." Although I'm not necessarily convinced that this is still a discussion or a thing TM Roh is "agonizing over", I believe prices should be "frozen" (yet again) at any cost.
The Galaxy S26 would probably have a good chance at achieving global success if it kept its predecessor's price unchanged. | Image by Evan Blass
If Samsung needs to reduce its profit margins (which is almost definitely the case), that may very well prove to be the wise business call in the long run, beating a probable dip in sales for the S26 family compared to the S25 series and a further consolidation of Apple's supremacy in the global smartphone landscape.
Of course, Apple's rumored decision to not release a "base" iPhone 18 in 2026 could help boost the mass appeal of the non-Plus and non-Ultra Galaxy S26... but not at a starting price of $900 in the US.
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