The 2026 Smartphone Awards Discussion Episode

In the middle of a lighthearted debate about whether the Galaxy S26 Ultra is now a $2,000 phone, Marques Brownlee paused and noted something strange: Samsung had just raised the price of a phone that had already been on sale since January. The Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra all got $100 bumps months after launch, following a pattern Apple had already set with its own price increases on older models. This detail — a price hike on a phone that is already out — became a small anchor for a much larger conversation about the state of smartphones in late 2026, a year that feels simultaneously crowded with innovation and stuck in a rut.

The Price Floor Is Rising

The Galaxy S26 Ultra now starts at $1,400, and a fully loaded 1TB version costs $2,000 — a non-folding phone at foldable prices. Brownlee and co-host Andrew Manganelli observed that this is not an isolated event. Apple raised prices across its entire lineup earlier in the year, and the trend seems structural: everything is roughly $100 more expensive than it was a year ago. The hosts connected this to a broader industry logic. Phone makers have little incentive to bring back expandable storage (like microSD cards) because charging for onboard storage tiers is a reliable profit center, and cloud storage subscriptions offer recurring revenue. Manganelli pointed out that a 2TB microSD card still costs around $400, makin