Fresh and steep Galaxy S26 series price increases compound the misery of upgrading your phone in 2026 — Explained
Samsung has, mid-cycle, pushed up the prices of its latest flagship phones. The Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra smartphones have apparently fallen victim to the ongoing memory and storage crisis.
Each of the 2026 handsets has gone up by at least $100 on Samsung’s website. All except for the top-end Galaxy S26 Ultra 1TB, which has gone up by $200, taking the price to $2,000. At the other end of the scale, the standard Galaxy S26 now costs $1,000.
The trend has been repeated in the UK. The 1TB Galaxy S26 Ultra is up to £1,859 from $1,699, which is an increase of £160. The Galaxy S26 now starts at £959, which is up from £879 at launch.
This increases (first noted by Phone Arena) is bad news for those seeking an upgrade. The S26 series was already priced higher than the S25 series by anything from $40/£30 to $100/£150 per model. Those price increases have now been magnified.
Furthermore, Samsung also dropped the 128GB S25 model, which was $800. That’s now $200 less than you’ll pay for the current 256GB Galaxy S26 model.
Although Samsung hasn’t officially commented, the increases are likely the result of the shortages dubbed “RAMageddon”. Demands for components are currently outstripping supply, due to AI data centre needs. Consumers are now feeling the brunt after manufacturers like Apple and Samsung determined they couldn’t absorb the losses anymore.
In a silver lining, Samsung’s latest foldables and the sub-flagship Galaxy S26 FE have not yet been increased in price. However all of those were released more recently, so the price increases were probably built-in from the get go.
