Last updated: July 22nd, 2026 at 19:36 UTC+02:00
SamMobile has affiliate and sponsored partnerships, we may earn a commission.
A sign of the times.
Reading time: 2 minutes
Abhijeet Mishra / SamMobile
Not only are Samsung's newest foldable phones more expensive than their predecessors, but they miss out on a longstanding pre-order perk that the company has previously offered.
It was reported in recent weeks that Samsung will no longer offer a free storage upgrade to customers who pre-order the new devices in the United States. That's exactly what has happened.
When you visit Samsung.com to pre-order a Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra or a Galaxy Z Flip 8 today, you'll see that no free storage upgrade is being offered.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899 with 256GB of storage. If you want 512GB, fork out $2,099. Just last year, Samsung let Galaxy Z Fold 7 pre-order customers get 512GB storage for the price of the base 256GB model.
Even earlier this year when the Galaxy S26 series was launched, the free storage upgrade was offered throughout the pre-order period.
This just goes to show how bad things are with respect to the memory super cycle because not only is Samsung having to raise prices, but it's also had to take away the one perk that made pre-ordering worth it.
Otherwise, you can just wait until August 7 when the devices are released, see all of the reviews, and then decide if you want to buy one. That's just where things stand right now, and at this rate, there's probably no point in keeping your fingers crossed that this perk will return for the Galaxy S27 series next year.
First Samsung device: SGH-E900
Adnan Farooqui is a long-term writer at SamMobile. Based in Pakistan, his interests include technology, finance, Swiss watches and Formula 1. His tendency to write long posts betrays his inclination to being a man of few words.
