Breaking News:Soaring memory prices push Samsung to weigh Galaxy S26 pricing strategy– What Just Happened

Soaring memory prices are forcing Samsung Electronics to weigh its pricing strategy for the Galaxy S26 series set to debut this year, as the company decides whether to absorb the higher costs to keep an edge over rivals or instead use the surge in as grounds to raise its prices.

Industry officials say the company is leaning toward a price hike, noting that DRAM and NAND prices have nearly doubled from early 2025, making price increases unavoidable not only for smartphones but also for other electronic devices.

Samsung Electronics is scheduled to reveal pricing for its new laptop lineup later this month, and officials say those prices could serve as an indicator of how the company may price its upcoming smartphones.

According to market tracker Omdia, the prices of 96-gigabyte Low Power Double Data Rate 5 (LPDDR5), a DRAM for smartphones, have surged approximately 70 percent from early 2025, while that of NAND flash for smartphone storage have risen 100 percent.

TrendForce also assumes that this year’s smartphone bill of materials (BoM) costs — a term referring to all raw materials and parts for a smartphone — will grow by 5 to 7 percent compared to 2025. Counterpoint Research is expecting that memory prices could rise another 40 percent through the second quarter of this year, resulting in BoM costs increasing between 8 and 15 percent above the current levels. This will push up the average selling prices of smartphones by 6.9 percent.

Samsung Electronics’ Low Power Double Data Rate 5 memory / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

The PC sector is already seeing the impact. According to DRAMeXchange, fixed prices for PC DRAM in the fourth quarter of 2025 rose 38 to 43 percent from the previous quarter. As memory prices continue to climb, PC makers have signaled price hikes for laptops in the first half of 2026, raising expectations that Samsung is also likely to raise its laptop prices.

Industry officials predict smartphones will follow a similar pattern.

Last year, Samsung Electronics left prices for its Galaxy S25 lineup unchanged, even though the company equipped the devices exclusively with the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which at the time was about 20 percent more expensive than its predecessor. This resulted in expectations of a price hike, but the company maintained prices in a strategy of compromising profitability for expanded market share.

For the Galaxy S26, the company initially sought to secure a price advantage by using its in-house Exynos 2600 application processor for the standard model. But memory prices surged far sharper than the company expected, leaving it with little choice but to reflect the increases in product pricing.

In December, reports also surfaced that Samsung’s mobile division had explored signing a long-term supply agreement with the company’s memory unit to secure stability, but the talks were said to have fallen through.

Against this backdrop, Samsung Electronics CEO and Mobile Experience division head Roh Tae-moon is reportedly planning to meet with Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra during CES 2026 in Las Vegas to discuss LPDDR5X supply for the Galaxy S26 series. Because the talks are taking place in the final stage, industry officials say Micron is likely to dictate the terms of the deal.

Samsung Electronics said that nothing has been decided yet regarding pricing. The Galaxy S26 is scheduled to be unveiled during a Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco on Feb. 25.