The Galaxy S26 line, considered Samsung's flagship product this year, has had its prices adjusted across all versions, including the entry-level model. This new adjustment raised device values in a range between R$ 300 and R$ 1,300.
This cost increase occurs amid a shortage of hardware components, driven by the growing demand for chips intended for Artificial Intelligence, which has put pressure on final consumer prices.
Specifically, the Galaxy S26 with 256 GB now costs R$ 7,799 at the official Samsung store, representing a 4% increase compared to the previous price. It is worth noting that this model was the only one in the new generation not affected by the previous pricing policy, maintaining the value of the Galaxy S25 256 GB at the time of launch.
However, unlike the launch in February, all devices are now subject to the price readjustment. One of the main reasons for the increase in phone prices lies in the semiconductor market landscape, where a large part of production capacity is being directed towards the more sophisticated chips used by the AI sector.
Suppliers of these chips argue that it is not feasible to build new factories in an adequate timeframe to meet the demand for conventional memory, essential for smartphones and PCs. Some corporations, such as Micron, have chosen to abandon this segment to focus entirely on data centers.
Samsung itself is part of this production chain and only intensified the manufacturing of DRAM memory aimed at consumer electronics after observing the growth of the sector in China. Due to this situation, electronics manufacturers have been implementing successive price increases since last year.
This price trend has already negatively impacted sales; cell phone shipments reached their worst level in over ten years, and Samsung's mobile division recorded a loss for the first time in the second quarter of this year.
The Galaxy S26 line was presented in February of this year during the Galaxy Unpacked event and comprises three models: Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra. The main innovation of this generation is greater integration with Galaxy AI, in addition to the introduction of the Privacy Screen on the most advanced version, a feature that may be present in all premium devices in future generations.
The initial Galaxy S26 features a 6.3-inch AMOLED screen, a 4,300 mAh battery, and camera sets of 50 MP, 12 MP, and 10 MP. The Galaxy S26+ expands the screen to 6.7 inches and the battery to 4,900 mAh, preserving the core characteristics of the more accessible model, including the Exynos 2600 SoC and LPDDR5X RAM options of 256 GB or 512 GB.
At the top end, the S26 Ultra offers a 6.9-inch screen, a 5,000 mAh battery, S Pen support, a 200 MP main camera, a 5x optical zoom telephoto lens, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor.
