C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR • Samsung originally planned a slimmer Galaxy S26 with a larger battery but reversed course due to Apple’s decision to maintain a $799 price tag for the iPhone 17.
Samsung’s revised plan appears to retain the previous dimensions of the S26, with a smaller increase in battery capacity, while focusing on maintaining competitive pricing.
Samsung will differentiate Galaxy S models by intent, offering a price-focused base model, a balanced Plus version, and a feature-rich Ultra model.
The Galaxy S26 series has been in the news a whole lot before its launch, primarily for all the plan changes that Samsung is making at a relatively late stage of product development. The company reportedly killed the Galaxy S26 Edge and revived the Galaxy S26 Plus, but it has also been making a few other tweaks to the lineup. A new report now sheds light on the reason behind some of these changes, and the answer is surprisingly simple: Apple.
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According to South Korean publication NewsPim (via Jukanlosreve on X), Samsung was focusing on making the Galaxy S26 lineup slimmer. However, Apple’s decision to maintain the $799 price tag on the iPhone 17 forced Samsung to reconsider its strategy. Consequently, the company shifted its focus from an initial target of a “slim premium” phone with a thinner body and larger battery capacity to reducing the cost burdens associated with the phone. The report says that Samsung’s top priority now is to keep the “Galaxy S26 at $799.”
Samsung is said to have internally concluded that while price hikes across the lineup are “unavoidable” due to higher component costs, it will at least stick to the $799 price point for the base Galaxy S26, and it can do so only by adjusting specifications. This report doesn’t say this, but a previous report mentions that a price rise is inevitable for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
The report notes that the base Galaxy S26 was initially developed to be 6.9mm thick, which would be 0.3mm thinner than its predecessor. Indeed, the leaks for the Galaxy S26 Pro (as Samsung was said to be planning to call the device back then) suggested that a thinner phone was on the cards, while recent leaks say that Samsung has changed the dimensions of the Galaxy S26 to be thicker.
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