On 26 february, samsung convened the galaxy global new product launch, presenting the inaugural flagship response, the galaxy s26 series. As the first wave of the ring of mobile phones in 2026, samsung this time has both innovations and “scrambling”: a new built-in anti-poach screen, a 16gb running memory only for “top pairs”, more ai functionality and a key signal: higher prices。
From the start of the sale price, the s26 standard set-aside price is $6999 per desk, the s26+ set-aside price is $799 per desk, and the super large s26 ultra set-aside price is $999 per desk. Of these, the standard and + start-up prices increased by $1,000 per station and 300 per station for the super bowl。
In industry, the overall increase in smartphone prices in 2026 has been a necessary trend against the backdrop of successive increases in the price of cell phone memory and storage chips, without a slowdown. It remains to be seen whether the specific price is in the range of $1,000 to $3,000 that has been passed by industry。
We're going to launch a screen and more ai
The first large plant after spring festival officially featured high-end flagship aircraft。
On 26 february, samsung electronic officially launched the third generation of ai mobile phone galaxy s26 series. In terms of appearance, according to some of the surveyors who have been provided with the new machine, the new series released is much lighter than that of the previous generation and does not differ in its overall appearance。
However, the “pollpoints” that domestic users have been calling for, such as the s26 ultra (hereinafter referred to as “s26u”) spen pen, which has no bluetooth function, and the largest version of the battery is 5,000 mah, 5 times or 10 times the length of the focal point, have not been updated。
In addition, the memory of this whole series of products has been sunk by a number of internet users. The s26 national series currently has only the top s26u 1tb (ram) operating memory of 16gb, with all remaining models being up to 12gb; the base s26 maximum memory of 12gb+256gb, with 12gb+512gb from s26+。
This time, however, samsung made a remarkable innovation on the flagship s26u, using a built-in “observation screen”. Users can customize the peep-proofing mode of the screen based on the use of the scene, for example when entering pin code, password or opening a specified application. The " partial screen area snipering " option intelligently limits the visual scope of the notification window. However, more questions have been raised by a number of netizens as to whether post-spectrum damage has been done to the peep-proof function, or whether it has been done at the expense of the screen。
In addition to the screen, samsung continued to emphasize the ai function of the s26 series this time. According to the surveyor, the samsung s26 series can also use an ai-operated mobile phone, for example, by opening a group to book a movie ticket in a similar pattern to the previous fire's soy bag ai phone. However, in the afternoon of 26 february, the words “s26 has only partial capacity for soybean cell phones” were thrown into social media。
According to a further query by the daily economic news reporter, on the afternoon of 26 february, the president of the china-hing communication terminal enterprise and the president of nubian technology ltd., ning fei weibo, stated that “it was good to see samsung s26's ability to bring mobile phone autopilot to gemini, and it was good to see international giants officially follow this track. However, seeing samsung s26+gemini's combination, using the same gui approach, it is somewhat regrettable that only the local capacity of the m153 of nubian has been achieved.”
Outside the configuration, it is the price that triggers greater discussion among netizens。
On the basis of the starting price, the s26 standard book price is $6999 per station, the s26+ book price is $799 per station and the super large s26 ultra is $999 per station. Of these, the standard and + starter prices increased by 1,000 yuan per station and 300 yuan per station for the super-large. The increase of nearly a thousand dollars has triggered a lot of debate among netizens。
The cost of storing chips continues to rise, 2026, or it's going to be a year of price increases for smartphones
However, the response of the samsung “first up” was more calm than that of consumers, from the surveyor to the data agency. After all, since last year’s sharp rise in storage chip prices, a number of terminal executives have spoken publicly about the cost pressure caused by storage price increases, which have become the logic of the industry’s inner circle。
The latest supply chain information indicates that after the bottom-up rebound in the second half of 2024, the price of mobile phone memory and storage chips has been rising for several consecutive quarters, with a further increase beginning in 2026. According to the “cfm flash market”, on 26 august 2025 the price of ddr 5 16gb ett (a memory specification) was us$ 4. 10/s. By 24 february 2026, the price of the product had risen to $24. 00 per item, almost six times the price six months earlier。
The idc data also show that the cost of memory semiconductors in smart phones has skyrocketed from 10 to 15 per cent before to more than 20 per cent recently. Among these, the storage cost of medium- and low-end mobile phones is close to 30 per cent, and some of the thousands of mobile phones have fallen into negative māori compartments. It was also reported in the korean media at the end of january that two korean storage chip suppliers, samsung and kk hercules, had completed negotiations with apple, and that the price of apple iphone low-capacity dram (lpdddr) would be substantially increased in the first quarter of 2026. Of these, the samsung offer increased by more than 80 per cent compared with the previous quarter, and sk hercules gave an increase of nearly 100 per cent。
Under this cost pressure, several headphone brands such as oppo, plus, vivo, milli, iqoo, and glory have been proposed to launch a new round of product price adjustments in early march, according to channels and odm manufacturers. With frequent fluctuations in memory costs, the chinese mobile market in 2026 may face several price increases in the first year in history. There are also industrial chains that tell daily economics reporters that mobile phone manufacturers are also “victims” of this round increase, which, after all, is “unaffordable”。
With regard to specific price increases, idc projects that the average sale price of smart phones will rise to $465 per station in 2026, bringing the overall market revenue to $57. 89 billion, a record high. It is a matter of concern that, according to recent scientific and technical media reports, the price increase for smartphones will be accelerated from march this year, with a minimum price increase of over $1,000 for new products; the price increase for new products released after march will be significantly increased, with a minimum increase of not less than $1,000, and the increase in the medium- and high-end flagship aircraft may be between $2,000 and $3,000. On 26 february, a journalist for the daily economic news questioned the above-mentioned smartphone manufacturer about the price increase, who said that it would be necessary to wait for the release of the new product before the exact price was known。
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