Samsung exec confirms that you can blame the RAM – and other materials – for the Galaxy S26’s high price

says Won Jun Choi, chief operating officer of Samsung’s mobile phone business Edge The lack of memory alone made a “significant contribution” to the price. All the increased material costs are factored in. The Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus cost $100 more than their predecessors this year, as did the tariffs, but the memory was “significant,” he told me.

The S26 comes with twice the storage capacity this year at its higher price, with 256GB instead of 128GB, though its $899 price is still $40 more than the S25 costing 256GB at launch. Although tariffs may also have been a factor, Samsung has raised prices in other regions as well, not just the US. The more expensive S26 Ultra comes with interesting upgradesHowever, it includes a built-in privacy screen and the largest vapor chamber cooling system in a phone.

Qualcomm, Samsung’s chip partner, warned in its February quarterly results that it was seeing a “100 percent” decline in its mobile business due to memory shortages, and told investors that the AI ​​industry’s appetite for components would exacerbate the problem. It potentially defines the entire scope of the telephone industry All year round.

Today, IDC expects The largest decline ever recorded in global smartphone shipments, A 12.9 percent decline by 2026. “What we are seeing is not a temporary stress, but rather a tsunami-like shock originating in the memory supply chain, with ripple effects spreading across the entire consumer electronics industry,” IDC wrote.