Samsung weighs adding roughly the same 145,000 won to all three Galaxy S26 tiers

The three prospective increases are nearly identical in won: 146,000 on the base, 148,000 on the Plus and 142,600 on the Ultra ^[1][2][3]. The spread between them is 5,400 won, across a lineup whose current top-to-bottom price gap is 543,400 won ^[4][9]. A percentage markup would widen with price; a fixed component bill would not. The same increase therefore costs the base buyer 11.6% and the Ultra buyer 7.9% ^[1][3].

Seoul Economic Daily's account is sourced to industry officials, one of whom said "Rising semiconductor prices are putting pressure on global smartphone makers, including Apple and Chinese manufacturers, to raise prices" ^[2]. The same official said "I understand Samsung is conducting an internal review of how much of the higher chip costs to pass on to product prices" ^[3]. Samsung has not announced a price change, and the report does not say which chips are driving the cost ^[1].

The S26 has been on sale for six months, so this would reprice a phone already in the market ^[11]. The certified renewed version of that same phone went on sale in Korea, the UK, France, Germany and India in the same month, timed to the September 9 launch of Apple's iPhone 18 Pro series ^[7]. Samsung collects the handsets directly, sorts, repairs and reassembles the components, guarantees the quality and resells at a standard it puts as comparable to new ^[14]. The S24, released in January 2024, took 15 months to reach the refurbished market, and the S25 and the foldable Z Flip 7 and Fold 7 about nine ^[12][13]; the S26 is running nine months ahead of the S24's pace ^[8].

India is where the pricing gets awkward. Handsets under $600, about 800,000 won, were 87% of Indian shipments in the first quarter, according to IDC ^[10]. The certified 256GB base S26 is priced at 1.06 million won, some 260,000 won above that line, and the Ultra at 1.57 million ^[8][7]. Until this year the program ran in Korea and the United States only ^[9].

In my view the trade-down gap widens from here. The certified prices are already set and the new prices are still under review, so if the base lands at 1.4 million won the discount on a 1.06 million won certified unit goes from 15.5% to 24.3% ^[5]. The counter is straightforward: Samsung can lift the certified list alongside the new one and hold the band near 15%, in which case the launch is a channel expansion and no conclusion about average selling prices follows. A third path is that mobile carriers absorb the increase in subsidies and the shelf price the buyer sees barely moves ^[4].

What would break the reading is a certified price list that moves in step with the new one. The analysts cited by Seoul Economic Daily take the two moves together, as widening consumer options with relatively inexpensive certified pre-owned devices while price increases for new models are under review ^[15].