Samsung allegedly redesigned the Galaxy S26 to hit a specific price point

A few days ago a report surfaced alleging that Samsung changed the dimensions of the upcoming Galaxy S26. It was initially supposed to be 6.9mm thick, but this was then adjusted to 7.24mm. That seemed odd, but today a new report from the company's home of Korea purports to explain why it happened.

Apparently, Apple is to blame. Specifically, the fact that the Cupertino company kept the iPhone 17 at $799 in the US, not increasing its price compared to its predecessor. Samsung wants the S26 to be priced exactly the same, which is why it allegedly had to make it thicker than it initially envisioned.

Not just that, but the battery will suffer too. Samsung wanted to give it a 4,900 mAh cell, but this was cut back to 4,300 mAh in a bid to save money. So, if this is true, Samsung assumed Apple would hike the price of the iPhone 17, and the Korean company wanted to hit the same price as that, while introducing the upgraded battery capacity and slimmer body.

But since Apple didn't hike the iPhone 17's price, Samsung couldn't introduce those upgrades without hiking the S26's price compared to the S25, and since it really doesn't want to misalign the S26's price with the iPhone 17's, it chose to give up on the upgrades instead. That's an interesting strategy for sure.

The Galaxy S26+ is said to have the same thickness and battery capacity as its predecessor, while the S26 Ultra fits the same 5,000 mAh battery as the S25 Ultra in a 0.3mm thinner shell. The Galaxy S26 Ultra will come with Samsung Display's "Flex Magic Pixel" technology, which lets you set a privacy screen electronically, without the need to install an additional film.

Source (in Korean) | Image source