The Galaxy S26 Ultra just crossed the $2,000 mark. Let that sink in. Samsung has officially raised prices on the entire Galaxy S26 lineup in the US, and no model escaped the increase. If you were waiting for the right time to buy, that window has closed. At least for now.
As reported by Android Headlines, the price hike is now live on Samsung Mobile US. Almost every Galaxy S26 configuration is $100 more expensive than it was. The one exception? The 1TB Galaxy S26 Ultra, which jumped a full $200 and now sits at $1,999.99. That’s not a typo. Two grand for a phone.
The culprit here is what people in the industry have started calling “RAMageddon.” RAM and memory prices have been climbing sharply, and the main driver is AI. The explosion in AI workloads, both in data centers and increasingly on-device, has sent demand for high-performance memory through the roof. That cost eventually lands somewhere, and right now it’s landing in your wallet.
This isn’t coming out of nowhere, either. Samsung already raised Galaxy S26 prices in South Korea a while back, and there were early signs of movement on Amazon before the official US update. So this was coming. Still, seeing it made official stings.
Here’s a quick look at how the increases break down across the lineup:
- Galaxy S26: up $100 across configurations
- Galaxy S26+: up $100 across configurations
- Galaxy S26 Ultra (most configs): up $100
- Galaxy S26 Ultra 1TB: up $200, now $1,999.99
There is a silver lining, thin as it is. If you really want one of these phones, sales are coming. Amazon’s second Prime Day event lands on October 6, and holiday deals aren’t far behind. There’s a decent chance prices will dip back down, maybe even below the original launch price, during those windows. So if you can hold out a few weeks, it’s worth waiting.
But here’s the part that should actually worry you. This price bump is a strong signal about what the Galaxy S27 will cost when it launches. Samsung doesn’t raise prices mid-cycle for fun. If memory costs are this elevated going into late 2026, next year’s flagship lineup will almost certainly launch at higher prices than the S26 did. The S27 Ultra starting at $1,499 or more is not a stretch at this point.
Is this Samsung being greedy? Honestly, it’s more complicated than that. The company is dealing with real cost pressure. AI’s appetite for memory is not Samsung’s fault, and protecting profit margins is just business. That doesn’t make the price tag any easier to look at, but blaming Samsung alone misses the bigger picture. The real story is what AI demand is doing to consumer electronics prices across the board, and the Galaxy S26 is just the most visible example right now.