Has Samsung intentionally made the base Galaxy S26 such a poor choice vs the iPhone 17?

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is now available for up to $720 off

$579 ⁹⁹

$1299 ⁹⁹

$720 off (55%)

The Galaxy S26 Ultra has been announced, bringing a Privacy Screen feature, insanely fast processor, and multiple Galaxy AI enhancements. Right now, you can save up to $720 at the Samsung Store with eligible trade-ins. You also get 15% off the Buds 4 series with your purchase. Alternatively, you can get $150 credit for add-ons, no trade-in required.

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The Galaxy S26+ is now available for up to $480 off

$619 ⁹⁹

$1099 ⁹⁹

$480 off (44%)

The Galaxy S26+ is here, bringing improved software and a more powerful processor. The device can now be yours for up to $480 off with eligible device trade-ins. Users also get 15% off the Buds 4 series with their purchase. The official store gives you a $150 credit for add-ons without trade-ins.

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Galaxy S26 is now available for up to $380 off

$519 ⁹⁹

$899 ⁹⁹

$380 off (42%)

The Galaxy S26 is currently available at the Samsung Store with an exciting trade-in discount. Right now, you can buy the model with a $380 maximum price cut. Samsung also gives you 15% off the Galaxy Buds 4 or the Buds 4 Pro with your smartphone purchase.

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The Galaxy S26 is missing a lot

For many users, the base Galaxy S26 isn’t too bad, but it’s not really a great phone either, especially when being compared to the other models in the S26 lineup.

For example, the Galaxy S26 is still stuck with measly 25W of wired charging speeds compared to the 45W of the Galaxy S26 Plus. It also retains the 15W wireless charging of its predecessor. But both the Galaxy S26 Plus and the Galaxy S26 Ultra saw improvements to their charging speeds this year.

The Galaxy S25 Plus also came with 45W wired charging speeds, but that phone had 15W of wireless charging. Its successor, the S26 Plus, has had that bumped up to 20W instead. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 Ultra had 45W of wired charging and 15W of wireless charging and those have gone up to 60W and 25W respectively for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

The base S26, however, has not gotten any of these charging speed upgrades at all. However, the phone is larger and does come with a higher-capacity battery than the S25, so it will take longer to charge and fits the “small phone” bill even less now.

The Galaxy S26 Plus and the Galaxy S26 Ultra also get access to new photography and videography features like ProScaler and low-light enhancements that the base model does not. Both models also get UWB support, something that is still missing from the base Galaxy models.

The price for the base model went up this year, but apart from a bump in storage capacity, the overall experience did not improve much for the average customer.

Not to mention other missing features

Samsung’s base model might be lacking compared to its higher-end models, but the entire Galaxy S26 series is falling behind the rest of the industry.

The introduction of the privacy display for the Galaxy S26 Ultra was interesting, despite its problems, but so many other necessities remain missing. None of the S26 phones have built-in Qi2 magnets, requiring you to buy an external case for perfect alignment whenever charging your supposed flagship phones.

Neither do any of the phones feature 10-bit displays, even though Samsung Display is one of the most popular innovators in this space globally. Many other flagship smartphones come with 10-bit displays but Samsung prefers to use software trickery with 8-bit displays to mimic a 10-bit effect.

Every year, the base Galaxy model becomes an even less appealing purchase, which is the complete polar opposite of what Apple has managed with the iPhone 17. The base iPhone 17 has an anti-glare display. Apple also gave it a 120 Hz refresh rate, further closing the gap between the base model and the iPhone 17 Pro.

All of the iPhone 17 models also come with Qi2 magnets, not to mention UWB support. Apple didn’t gatekeep features like the Camera Control button or something new like the privacy display behind the Pro moniker. The Pro models are just that: professional pieces of kit that not everyone needs.

Which is why the base iPhone 17 sold like it did, it’s genuinely good value unlike the Galaxy S26.

Samsung needs to remember what a flagship is

If you looked at the base model of the Galaxy S26 lineup and thought that this can’t possibly be a flagship phone, I wouldn’t blame you. Samsung, in its quest to get everyone to upgrade to the Ultra models, has started abandoning the base phones across its lineups.

Apple has also played dirty when trying to get people to upgrade to more expensive models, but it was usually by very cleverly pricing storage upgrades in a way that the Pro models started looking like a better deal. Samsung, on the other hand, is making phones so inferior to their own counterparts, let alone rival flagships, that I cannot ever see myself recommending them to someone. It foresaw the effect its limitations would have on sales and so manufactured way fewer units for the base model.

The base Galaxy phones just aren’t worth it anymore and it’s all because Samsung would rather slim down its phones, gatekeep features, and force you to buy accessories that shouldn’t exist in the first place. Accessories that are almost as pointless as the external MagSafe battery pack for the iPhone Air.