Summary
- Samsung may keep the Galaxy S26 price at $799, ditching the thinner design to reduce costs.
- According to rumors, the model will maintain a thickness of 7.2 mm and will have a 4,300 mAh battery.
- The strategy would follow in Apple’s footsteps with the iPhone 17, which hit the market for the same price as the iPhone 16.
Samsung may change the strategy of the Galaxy S26 line to keep the price of the base model stable. The manufacturer would be giving up the thinner design to reduce costs and maintain the launch value.
According to rumors, the Mobile eXperience (MX) division decided in October to prioritize maintaining the price of US$799 (around R$4,234) — the same as the Galaxy S25, in line with the rival iPhone 17 abroad.
According to the South Korean website Newspimthe original plan included reducing the thickness of the S26 to 6.9 mm and expanding the battery to 4,900 mAh. With the change, the model would maintain its current thickness of 7.2 mm and would only receive a slight battery improvement, from 4,000 mAh to 4,300 mAh.
Why would Samsung have changed its mind?
The change would be linked to the global increase in component costs and Apple’s recent pricing strategy. The competitor chose to launch the iPhone 17 for US$799, maintaining the value of the iPhone 16 — a decision that was well received in the market. In this scenario, Samsung would have assessed that increasing the value of the basic model would be risky.
According to the publication, analysts interpret this supposed change as a “realistic” choice. The strategy would allow the company to defend its market share in the upper-intermediate segment, aligning its entry price with that of the iPhone.
What to expect from the S26 Plus and Ultra?
The new approach would not affect the entire S26 line in the same way, as the manufacturer would be adopting a “dual” strategy. While the base model will focus on price competitiveness, the higher models, especially the Ultra, are expected to focus on technological innovations and premium features.
The S26 Plus would maintain the same thickness and battery capacity as its predecessor. The S26 Ultra would be 0.3 mm thinner, at 7.9 mm, but would come with the same 5,000 mAh battery.
The differentiation can be clearer in the internal components. Rumors indicate that the S26 and S26 Plus models, in markets such as South Korea and Europe, will be equipped with Samsung’s own Exynos 2600 processor. The S26 Ultra, on the other hand, would exclusively receive Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset.
In addition to the processor, the S26 Ultra may debut a new screen technology from Samsung Display, called “Flex Magic Pixel”. This feature would allow the user to activate or deactivate a privacy protection mode directly in the device settings, functioning as a privacy film integrated into the display itself.
Source: https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/galaxy-s26-samsung-tem-plano-para-nao-aumentar-o-preco/
