Samsung Galaxy S26 series tipped to become more expensive because of Exynos 2600 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Samsung is still expected to be months away from replacing its current Galaxy S25 series with newer models. Nonetheless, various sources have already started speculating about price increases for the company's next flagship candybar smartphones.

For instance, ET News now reports that rising component prices will inevitably push up how much Samsung charges for the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Plus or Galaxy S26 Ultra. Citing industry sources and Samsung Electronics' semi-annual reports, ET News claims that camera hardware and mobile chipsets have received an 8% and 12% uplift over last year. Currently, Samsung is expected to use the Exynos 2600 in some markets and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in others.

Likewise, the cost of sourcing LPDDR5 RAM is said to have increased by over 15%. On top of that, external pressures like US tariffs are reported to remain in Samsung's considerations before deciding Galaxy S26 series prices. For context, the Galaxy S25 series was rumoured to become significantly more expensive than its Galaxy S24 counterparts thanks to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

Post release, bill of materials analysis identified Qualcomm's chipset as the source of higher production costs for the Galaxy S25 Ultra (curr. $1,025 on Amazon). However, Samsung did not pass these cost increases onto consumers. Instead, the Galaxy S25 series price-matched its predecessors. Considering past behaviour, we would expect to see Samsung enact modest price increases at worst or no price rises at all in a best-case scenario.