The first Unpacked event of the year is right around the corner. | Image by Samsung
A lot of concerning rumors have been floating around the interwebs regarding Samsung’s next ultra-high-end handsets these last couple of months, but very few have caused quite so much consternation among the company’s long-time fans as speculation of a lack of a key pre-order benefit.
In addition to being widely expected to cost more than their predecessors, the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra were at one point predicted to lose the free storage upgrade offer that’s become a tradition for new S-series and Z-series releases in recent years, which would have caused prospective buyers financial distress on two different levels.
But as it turns out, these particular reports were greatly exaggerated, at least in certain parts of the world.
Bullet dodged in India
And the UK. And France. And Italy. And other European countries. That’s right, Samsung’s official pre-reservation webpages for the “next Galaxy device” in all those places now includes confirmation that 512GB storage variants (of presumably all Galaxy S26-series phones) will be available at the normal prices of 256GB configurations during the pre-order window.
Pre-orders, mind you, are expected to kick off worldwide on February 25, with actual shipments then likely to roll out on March 11, when the double storage promotion will almost certainly end… unless, of course, Samsung decides to extend it due to poor sales.
For now, there’s no sign of a similar deal being offered to early buyers of the 512GB Galaxy S26 Ultra variant to allow them to upgrade to a terabyte of internal storage space for free, and more concerningly, no double storage pre-order promotion whatsoever is currently confirmed in the US.
For what it’s worth, Samsung took its sweet time to make the highly anticipated announcement in India as well, so maybe the US will also follow suit at some point between today and next Wednesday. Or perhaps Samsung has something different in mind…
Will the Galaxy S26 family be costlier than the Galaxy S25 roster after all?
Most likely, although the latest report on the matter surprisingly claims that price tags are not etched in stone yet and may not be until the “very last minute.”
That might be why Samsung has yet to confirm the S26 lineup’s free storage upgrade deals stateside, as the company could try to “freeze” prices instead in a number of markets. Basically, I believe there’s a chance the S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra will be released in countries like the US at the same prices as the S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra, but without the tech giant’s traditionally generous pre-order benefits.
Of course, that’s just an assumption on my part, and those of you interested in purchasing a member of the Galaxy S26 family stateside might end up both paying more than they did for a Galaxy S25-series device this time last year and not receiving a bump from 256 to 512 gigs of storage space. That’s a pretty catastrophic scenario that would undoubtedly cause massive harm to the box-office potential of Samsung’s new flagships in a key market, but let’s not panic just yet.
Samsung’s got to have something up its sleeve
As things stand, reservations for the “next Galaxy” get you a $30 Samsung credit (during the pre-order period), a chance to win $5,000, and “up to” $900 additional savings (with a qualifying device trade-in) in the US.
