This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
A real-world look at the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. | Image by Image by Sahil Karoul
We're mere hours away from the official Galaxy S26 Ultra reveal, and I'm sure many of you are already planning to click on that pre-order button as soon as it appears. But wait! Don't fall into temptation! There's a better time to get the latest Samsung flagship and pre-ordering right away could be a mistake.
The best Galaxy S26 Ultra pre-order deals require a flagship phone for trade-in
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is getting ready to take on the competition | Image by Sahil Karoul
Last year, if you wanted to pre-order the S25 Ultra without paying the full $1,300, you needed to trade in your old Galaxy S24 Ultra or Galaxy Z Fold model. That gave people a solid discount of around $700, but they needed to return a perfectly good flagship to get the next model.
Do the math. Samsung was effectively valuing your year-old $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra at $700. Suddenly, that pre-order deal does not sound that good.
The same is expected to happen with the Galaxy S26 Ultra. You'd need to return your S25 Ultra or a premium foldable to get the best discount. On paper, you’re saving hundreds. In reality, the total cost of the S26 Ultra can quietly exceed the $1,300 MSRP.
And if you're coming from an older Galaxy or other phone and looking to get the S26 Ultra, there are even more reasons to skip pre-ordering and wait a couple of months.
Pre-ordering the Galaxy S26 Ultra could bring early software woes
The low-light blur glitch on the Galaxy S25 Ultra | Image by Tech Chap
There's another angle to pre-ordering the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and any other smartphone for that matter. Nowadays, many features are software-dependent, and there's a high possibility of bugs and issues at launch.
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This is especially true when we talk about the camera. Samsung regularly pushes updates fixing the said bugs or adding new features long after the launch date has passed. I've seen this with other flagships, and more importantly on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Samsung pushed a big 1.2GB software update last June, and along with all the stability improvements, this update brought a new version of the camera app (from version 15.0.01.71 to 15.0.02.43). This update brought new low-light algorithms and fixed the annoying low-light blur issue many users reported back then.
"We are aware of a limited number of cases where images appear blurred when taking photos in Night Mode on Galaxy S25 Ultra and have issued a fix to resolve in the next software update rolling out starting this week."
So waiting out a couple of months can also potentially spare you the frustration of glitchy and buggy launch-day software. So, when to buy the Galaxy S26 Ultra, then?
The best time to buy the Galaxy S26 Ultra
Shopping events are your best bet to get a Galaxy S26 Ultra on a deal, just have some patience | Image by PhoneArena
If we cross-reference the time frame for the software updates on the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the best deal during Prime Day and Black Friday, we can extrapolate the best possible time for you to get Samsung's latest and greatest flagship not only at the best possible price but also with all the software gremlins ironed out.
Last year the S25 Ultra was $365 off during Prime Day, with no trade-in and no contract required, just the phone. This year's Prime Day is expected in July, so that's your first good shot at getting the S26 Ultra on a deal and with stable software with no potential issues.
Of course, if you're willing to wait until October or November, Black Friday will shave even more off the price of the S26 Ultra. Judging from last year, the S25 Ultra was a whopping $540 off in the Galaxy Store prior to Black Friday, again with no trade-in required.
Samsung's own deals will most likely start early in October 2026, and will be followed by Black Friday in November.
So, to sum it all up—pre-ordering the S26 Ultra now could potentially cost you more money and nerves. If you want a stable phone without potential software issues at the best possible price without trade-in deals and contracts, you need to wait until this year's Prime Day in July, Samsung's October campaigns, and, of course, Black Friday in November.
I know it's tempting to get the latest phone as fast as possible, but the more logical and pragmatic thing in this case is to wait.
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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