Galaxy S26 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 may likely get this huge but underrated upgrade

People tend to focus mainly on the big ticket items like the chipset and cameras when new phones get launched. There are several other components as well, such as the memory and storage chips, that fly under the radar but deliver incredible gains when they're upgraded.

One such upgrade is likely for the Galaxy S26 series, at least a part of it, and most likely the Galaxy Z Fold 8 as well, because of the chipset they might use.

Qualcomm unveiled its new mobile SoC, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 yesterday. The company has mentioned Samsung in the list of brands that will use this chipset.

This leaves the door open for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 “for Galaxy” variant to be used in at least some variants of the Galaxy S26 series and in the company's top foldable.

It would hardly be surprising if Samsung opts for this chipset, given that the Galaxy S25 series runs on last year's flagship Qualcomm chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and so does the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

One of the improvements Qualcomm has made to its latest chip is the support for UFS 4.1 storage vs UFS 4.0 on the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The new standard offers better read speeds, up to 25% improved power efficiency with more stable thermal performance, and security enhancements.

Whichever Galaxy phones get this chipset would then be compatible with superior UFS 4.1 storage. Micron, which is quickly emerging is a leading memory and storage supplier for Samsung, has already launched its UFS 4.1 chip and it's expected to be a major supplier of chips for the Galaxy S26 series.

One can thus be cautiously optimistic that the underrated UFS 4.1 support is on the cards for these devices.