Planning to buy Galaxy S26? Samsung’s next flagship may come with higher prices

Samsung’s upcoming flagship series, S26, might not debut as smoothly as the Galaxy S25 and the preceding models, if industry leaks and insider reports are to be believed. The next-generation Galaxy S26 series could see the first price hikes in years, a reality that could potentially take some wind out of the South Korean tech giant’s sails.

Insider information from trusted industry sources points to Samsung’s S26 series’ price hikes as a result of increased production costs for flagship smartphone parts. Samsung is rumoured to raise prices for the Galaxy S26 series because prices for components like memory chips, OLED panels, and camera modules have been inflated globally. Smartphone manufacturers’ margins have been under pressure as a result, resulting in a critical moment in which prices must be carefully adjusted to maintain the industry’s current state.

Samsung Galaxy S series flagships are typically released in the first quarter of the year, and it is widely expected that the trend will be maintained by the company with the upcoming S26 series, expected to debut in February 2026 during the Galaxy Unpacked event.

Expected to consist of the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Plus, and Galaxy S26 Ultra, the series is a sure bet to push even higher on performance, cameras, and AI, building on the successes of its predecessors.

Leaks and whispers from across the industry do not yet give any pricing for the Galaxy S26 series, but early prices for the standard Galaxy S26 have been seen online at ₹75,999 and could be close to reality, while the Plus and Ultra variants, as can be expected, would scale upward depending on the storage size and features.

Analysts do, however, expect the eventual official prices to surpass the Galaxy S25 series’ retail prices, as Samsung grapples with increasing the costs of production.

Part of the problem for Samsung and the rest of the industry is the surge in demand for mobile DRAM and high-end camera components, with many of these components being shared by AI servers and data centres. Component shortages are widespread, and with supplies restricted, component prices for smartphone manufacturers are unlikely to return to pre-pandemic levels. Samsung, for all its might, will have to factor these increases into its cost and will have to increase retail prices to not fall further into the red.

Samsung’s S26 series also has the difficult task of building on the series’ success and breaking new ground, and with the price increases, consumers will be expecting a bevy of major upgrades. The phone is also likely to sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2600, depending on the region of release, in an effort to offer better performance and efficiency for end-users. The Galaxy S26 series is also expected to feature Samsung’s One UI 8.5 with a list of new Galaxy AI-powered features like enhanced image editing and smart notification digests at launch time.

On the camera front, industry chatter and early leaks indicate Samsung might continue its race with the megapixels and computational photography prowess on the S26 Ultra model, keeping the S series at the forefront of flagship smartphone contention alongside Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Pixel smartphone series.

For those considering upgrading to Samsung’s S26 series, expect a steep hike in pricing but also some of the best Samsung has to offer when it releases.