Even Samsung’s chief may not be able to stop Galaxy S26 price hike

Samsung's next lineup of non-foldable flagship smartphones, which is expected to be the Galaxy S26 series, is said to come with a higher price tag than its predecessor, the Galaxy S25 series. Reports claim that the brand is hiking the prices as smartphone manufacturing costs, especially those of memory chips, are rising rapidly.

Reportedly, Samsung was about to take a similar decision with the Galaxy S25 series. However, the brand’s President and Head of the Mobile eXperience (MX) Business, Roh Tae-Moon, stopped it at the last moment. Sadly, even he may not be able to stop the price hike with the Galaxy S26, says a new report from Korea. 

According to a report from Chosun, a Samsung official familiar with the Galaxy S26 prices said that when Samsung was planning to launch the Galaxy S25 series at a higher price than its predecessor, Roh Tae-Moon, “agonised” over it, and ultimately, made the brand launch it at the same price as the Galaxy S24.

Unfortunately, the official says that even Roh Tae-Moon can’t stop Samsung from launching the Galaxy S26 series at a higher price than its predecessor, as memory prices have gone up significantly. To make people look the other way, the brand may offer double storage benefits. However, nothing is set in stone yet.

According to multiple reports, Apple is on track to launch its next lineup of smartphones, the iPhone 18 series, at the same prices as its predecessor, the iPhone 17 series. Considering that Samsung isn’t able to do so, the brand’s President is said to be worried.