Early signs suggest Samsung could be preparing a noticeable price hike for the Galaxy S26 lineup. New dealer data points to higher starting prices — at least for some models.
According to information spotted by WinFuture from Swedish retailers, the base Galaxy S26 could launch at nearly €200 more than last year’s model. That’s a significant jump. However, Samsung would reportedly soften the blow by dropping the 128GB option entirely, instead starting with 256GB of storage.
For context, the Galaxy S25 currently starts at $799 / £799, with the 256GB version priced higher. If these early figures hold true, the Galaxy S26 could land well above that, even before stepping up storage further. It would mark one of Samsung’s more aggressive year-on-year increases in recent memory.
The picture is a bit more mixed elsewhere in the lineup. The Galaxy S26 Plus is tipped to keep the same starting price as its predecessor. Yet higher-capacity versions may still get more expensive. A 512GB configuration could reportedly cost over €200 more than the equivalent Galaxy S25 Plus. Therefore, storage upgrades may become harder to justify.
Interestingly, the Galaxy S26 Ultra could go the other way. The same data suggests its starting price may actually be lower than the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s current $1,299 / £1,249 price tag. This would be a rare bit of good news if accurate.
So why the uneven changes? Rising RAM and flash memory costs are likely the main factor. Those increases affect the entire industry.
Even so, not every company is expected to respond in the same way. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims Apple plans to absorb much of the cost increase for its upcoming iPhone 18 range. As a result, base prices may remain unchanged to protect market share.
If that happens, Apple’s flagship phones could look comparatively better value next year. Even if “better value” is still doing a lot of work at these prices, the comparison may favour Apple.
As always with early leaks, none of this is locked in. Samsung hasn’t confirmed pricing, but with rumours pointing to a late February launch, official details shouldn’t be far away. If these numbers stick, buyers may want to brace themselves — or start eyeing higher storage as the new baseline.
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