Samsung Just Raised Galaxy S26 Prices by $100 in the U.S., and the 1TB Ultra Jumps $200

Seven months after launch, the Galaxy S26 just got more expensive instead of cheaper. As of October 1, Samsung’s U.S. store lists every Galaxy S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra configuration at $100 more than its launch price. The top 1TB Galaxy S26 Ultra takes the biggest hit, climbing $200 to $1,999.99.

That is not how phone pricing usually works. Flagships tend to drift down as they age, and Samsung’s own store typically gets more generous heading into the holidays. This time the company is going the other way, and it is pointing at the component the whole industry has been grumbling about for a year: memory.

The new Galaxy S26 prices

Here is how Samsung’s U.S. list prices changed, based on the store listings reported by Android Authority:

The headline number is the base model. A $999.99 Galaxy S26 puts Samsung’s smallest flagship in four-figure territory that used to belong to the Plus and Ultra. And the gap between storage tiers hasn’t moved, so anyone who wants 512GB on a standard S26 is now paying $1,199.99, what a 256GB S26+ cost at launch.

Samsung blames the memory shortage

Samsung tied the change to a “global shortage of memory components,” according to Yonhap’s reporting on a matching increase in South Korea, where the entry-level S26 went from 1,254,000 won to 1,403,600 won. The 1TB Ultra there rose by about 270,000 won, roughly the same $200 jump U.S. buyers are seeing.

The shortage itself is real. The Next Web points out that RAM prices climbed from about $2.80 to $12 per gigabyte over the past year, as AI data centers soak up supply. Flagship phones with 12GB or 16GB of RAM and big storage options feel that directly in their bill of materials.

There’s an awkward wrinkle, though. Samsung is also one of the world’s largest memory makers. According to The Next Web, its semiconductor division produced 94% of the company’s profit in the first quarter of 2026, while the mobile division’s operating profit fell about 38%. The shortage that is squeezing Galaxy phones is also what is propping up the rest of Samsung. Shoppers can draw their own conclusions about who is absorbing the cost.

What isn’t changing

Not every Galaxy got the treatment. The Galaxy S26 FE stays at $700, and Samsung’s current foldables, including the Galaxy Z Fold 8, weren’t part of this round, per The Next Web. If you already own an S26, nothing changes for you; this only affects new purchases at Samsung’s list price.

Carrier and retailer pricing is a separate question. Carriers set their own promotions and trade-in credits, and retail discounts don’t always track Samsung’s MSRP right away. Expect those deals to shrink over time if the new list price becomes the baseline they discount from.

Buy now, wait, or look elsewhere?

Our advice is simple: don’t pay the new sticker price. A list-price increase this late in a phone’s life makes discounts, trade-ins and holiday sales more valuable, not less. If you were already hunting for an S26 deal, the deals that matter are the ones measured against the old $899.99 price, not the new one.

If you want a Samsung phone and the math no longer works, the $700 Galaxy S26 FE is now $300 cheaper than the base S26, which is a much bigger gap than Samsung intended when it launched the FE. Last year’s Galaxy S25 models are also worth a look while stock lasts.

And if you’re thinking of holding out for next spring, temper your expectations. 9to5Google has already flagged reports that Galaxy S27 pricing may go up as well, with storage upgrades costing more on top of that. The S26 price hike looks less like a one-off correction and more like a preview.

Sources: Android Authority, The Next Web, Investing.com. Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash.