Samsung Announces Price Increases Across Multiple Smartphone and Tablet Models While Galaxy S26 and S27 Details Emerge

Samsung Raises Prices on Smartphones and Tablets Amid Global Memory Shortage

The price adjustments come during a period of rising costs for RAM and NAND flash memory, impacting devices across Samsung's lineup.

Samsung has implemented price increases on several Galaxy smartphone and tablet models, coinciding with a period of global memory shortages. Separately, technical details and potential future specifications have emerged for the Galaxy S26, S26 FE, and S27 series through teardowns, benchmark leaks, and industry reports.

Samsung Price Increases

Affected Smartphone Models

Samsung has raised prices on higher-storage variants of several smartphone models. Base models of the affected phones remain at their previous prices.

Previous Smartphone Price Changes

Last week, Samsung increased prices for the Galaxy Z Fold 7:

• 1TB model: From $2,419 to $2,499
• 512GB model: From $2,119 to $2,199

Affected Tablet Models

Price increases were applied across Samsung's tablet lineup, affecting models regardless of storage capacity:

Market Context

According to industry reports, these price adjustments occur during a global memory shortage affecting the cost of RAM and NAND flash memory components used in storage devices. Samsung previously raised prices for its Galaxy Book 6 Pro and Book 6 Ultra laptops last week. Microsoft also implemented price increases for its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models on Monday. The price changes were first reported by Phone Arena.

Galaxy S26 Series

Galaxy S26 Ultra: Benchmark and Memory Details

A Geekbench listing for a US model (SM-S948U) of the Galaxy S26 Ultra showed a Qualcomm CPU, likely the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The benchmark score was slightly lower than other devices using the same chipset, which may be attributed to an underclocked chipset and non-final software. Both the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Ultra models were indicated to have 10.80 GB of usable memory, translating to 12 GB of RAM. Reports suggest that a 16 GB RAM option may be reserved exclusively for the top-tier 1 TB storage model of the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Galaxy S26 Ultra: Teardown Details

A teardown of the Galaxy S26 Ultra revealed thermal management features including graphite films applied to the wireless charging coil, thermal paste between the motherboard's back and the frame, and additional graphite film on the logic board. Thermal paste is also present on the storage and DRAM. The device's vapor chamber, though marketed as the largest in a Samsung flagship, maintains a size consistent with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

For battery replacement, a pull pouch with clearly labeled sides has been incorporated, suggesting a simplified process. The device received a repairability rating of 9 out of 10 from the teardown analysis, with deductions for repair length and display replacement difficulty.

Galaxy S26 FE: Benchmark Leak

Benchmark results from Geekbench 6 indicate the Galaxy S26 FE will feature an Exynos 2500 System-on-Chip and 8GB of RAM. The performance comparison between the Galaxy S26 FE (Exynos 2500) and the Galaxy S26 (Exynos 2600) is as follows:

The Galaxy S26 outperforms the S26 FE by 26.5% in single-core and 33.4% in multi-core scores.

• Single-core score: Galaxy S26 FE: 2,426; Galaxy S26: 3,070 (26.5% higher)
• Multi-core score: Galaxy S26 FE: 8,004; Galaxy S26: 10,676 (33.4% higher)

Galaxy S26 Series: Pricing and Availability

Reports from South Korea's Financial News indicate Samsung has approved an internal plan to increase Galaxy S26 series prices by 44,000 won ($30) to 88,000 won ($60) in certain markets. Samsung has reportedly decided against implementing price hikes in key markets such as the United States.

Projected US retail prices for the Galaxy S26 series are:

• Base Galaxy S26: $799.99
• Galaxy S26 Plus: $999.99
• Galaxy S26 Ultra: $1,299.99

The Galaxy S26 series has commenced shipping in Australia following reports of strong global pre-order demand. The Galaxy S26 Ultra has led demand, accounting for approximately 70% of all pre-order shipments. Pre-orders have increased by double-digit percentages compared to previous models.

Industry Context for Price Increases

Research firm Counterpoint Research indicates that mobile RAM prices have increased by about 50% quarter-on-quarter, while NAND storage prices have risen by more than 90% over the same period. Counterpoint estimates that the Bill of Materials for a flagship smartphone could increase by $100 to $150 in the second quarter.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra achieved a 7% increase in sales compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra during the period from its launch to the end of the year, according to Counterpoint Research.

Galaxy S27 Series

Potential UFS 5.0 Storage

According to a report from the blog yeux1122, Samsung is considering equipping some Galaxy S27 models with next-generation UFS 5.0 storage. Current Galaxy S26 models use UFS 4.1 storage.

The JEDEC standards body states UFS 5.0 flash memory chips can deliver data transfer speeds up to 10.8GB/s, a performance level comparable to PCIe NVMe Gen 5 standards. The report notes that higher Input/Output Operations Per Second from UFS 5.0 would contribute to faster task performance on devices.

If implemented, the storage upgrade may not include major capacity changes, with 256GB mentioned as a potential base configuration. The report suggests the Galaxy S27 Ultra is a likely candidate to receive the new storage technology.

The report notes that Samsung's original plans could be affected by the DRAM market situation, and that fully leveraging UFS 5.0's capabilities would require compatible software.

Potential Design and Release Delays

According to leaker Lanzuk on Korean social media site Naver, Samsung is considering a redesign of the rear camera on its next Galaxy S model, likely the Galaxy S27. The post suggests that Qi2/magnetic accessories are part of the reason for the potential change. The redesign may be delayed or put on hold due to cost issues.