Samsung said that the price increase for the Galaxy S26 is due to increased memory capacity.

Galaxy S26 and S26+ smartphones are $100 more expensive than their predecessors

This week Samsung announced the launch of new Galaxy S26 and S26+ models. According to the operating director of the company’s mobile division, Won‑Joon Choi, the main reasons for the price increase were two factors:

1. Increased memory capacity – the new models have double the storage compared with their predecessors.

2. Rising tariffs – additional import taxes that affected the cost of the devices.

What changed in the Galaxy S26?
Specification Previous model New model
Built‑in memory 128 GB 256 GB
Price (USD) $859 $899

Thus, the new version costs $40 more even compared with Galaxy S25 models that have the same amount of storage. The price hike was not limited to the U.S. market – Samsung raised the cost of the model in other regions as well.

Improvements in the higher‑priced version – Galaxy S26 Ultra
* Privacy protection screen – an integrated display that can be activated when needed to hide the image.
* Cooling system – a new evaporative chamber increases heat dissipation efficiency.

Why were chip sales falling so sharply?
In February, Qualcomm, Samsung’s key processor supplier, released its quarterly report and announced a full (100 %) shutdown of mobile processor manufacturing due to memory shortages. The company also warned that AI industry demand this year would directly determine the scale of the entire smartphone sector.

Professor IDC on the market’s future
IDC predicts that 2026 will be the largest decline in global smartphone supply ever – a drop of 12.9 %. The study emphasizes that:

> “We are witnessing not a temporary contraction but a tsunami‑like shock starting in the memory supply chain and spreading wave‑by‑wave throughout the consumer electronics industry.”

Thus, the price rise for Galaxy S26 models is due to both technological changes (increased memory) and external economic factors (tariffs, chip production decline). In the coming years, the smartphone market may face serious difficulties because of the memory supply chain.