Patience pays off – some flagships were holding a fairly high price last week, but now they are down to a much better number.
That is the case for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra – a 256GB unit was $1,105 last week, now it’s $1,000. We’ve seen it as low as $950 not too long ago, but the $50 difference isn’t huge. You can also get double the storage for $150 more.
The Samsung Galaxy S26+, meanwhile, is at the same price as it was last week – $810 for a 256GB unit and $135 more for the 512GB upgrade. The S26+ is no match for the S26 Ultra. The only thing it has going for it is its price.
But never mind the new Ultra, what about the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra? That is currently a bit cheaper than the S26+. You’ll be getting the older chipset (Snapdragon 8 Elite vs. Elite Gen 5), but pretty much everything else is better, including the 200MP 1/1.3 main camera (vs. 50MP 1/1.56”), the two telephoto modules – 10MP 3x/67mm and 50MP 5x/111mm (vs. just the 10MP 3x/67mm) – and the 50MP 120° ultra-wide (vs. 12MP 120°).
The S25 Ultra is slightly larger (77.6mm wide vs. 75.8mm) and heavier (218g vs. 190g). Unless that is a deal-breaker, we’d say that an old Ultra is better than a new Plus.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 actually went up in price compared to last week, so we’d hold off for now if it’s the 6.3” Galaxy that you are after.
As another alternative to the S26+, there’s the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE – specifically the 8/256GB model because the base 128GB version has a pitiful discount. And yes, you do lose 4 gigs of RAM. The Exynos 2500 loses to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in terms of performance and efficiency.
The screens may be the same size at 6.7”, but the S26+ has a 1440p+ LTPO panel, while the FE has a 1080p+ LTPS. The Galaxy S26 FE is a solid improvement over the S25 FE, however, it doesn’t compare well against the pricier S-series models. Especially since “pricier” now means “$110” (the difference in MSRPs is $400).
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 was $1,700 for the base 256GB model and $1,900 for the 512GB upgrade. Now, you can snag the same versions for $100 less. Yes, it’s still expensive, but even non-folding flagships are pushing into the $1,600 range.
There are reasons that you may want the larger Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra instead – size is one of them, the cameras are another. You might even consider the Z Fold8 Ultra over the S26 Ultra.
Speaking of foldables, we also have to mention the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The unfortunate choice of chipset makes it hard to recommend, though – heavy-duty multitasking is the main reason to get a foldable and the Tensor G6 just isn’t built for it.
That leaves the rest of the Pixel 11 series. Their prices are the same as last week, so there isn’t much to say about them. If you want to do a deep dive comparison, here is our Pixel 11 Pro vs. Pixel 11 Pro XL article and our Pixel 11 vs. Pixel 11 Pro article.
We may get a commission from qualifying sales.