Samsung’s Challenge: Ambitious Galaxy S26 Sales Goals Alongside Increased Pricing

Samsung finds itself at a critical crossroads, facing two contrasting pressures that present a significant challenge for the South Korean tech giant. On one side, rising component costs exert price pressures, while on the other, an ambitious sales goal for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series demands a competitive pricing strategy and increased marketing investment.

Anticipated Sales for the Galaxy S26 Series

According to a recent report from MK News, Samsung’s Mobile Experience (MX) division aims for an impressive 130 trillion won (approximately $90.3 billion) in annual revenues by 2026. This target includes a goal of selling 240 million smartphones alongside 27 million tablets.

Details from the report include:

The MX division is set to sell 35 million units of the Galaxy S26 lineup, an increase from the 22 million units of the Galaxy S25 series sold in the first half of 2025, with a target of 24 million units in the same timeframe for the upcoming model.
Additionally, there’s an expectation to sell 5 million units of the Fold and Flip phone models set for release in July.
Historically, the MX division reached its peak sales volume of 133 trillion won back in 2013, but has since struggled with market share losses.
This ambitious sales goal indicates Samsung’s intent to recover market presence lost to competing manufacturers in recent years.

Nonetheless, this objective conflicts with current industry trends marked by increasing component costs, prompting concerns over pricing flexibility.

Price Increases for Galaxy S26 Lineup Expected

A report from Taiwan’s Electronic Times reveals that a price increase for the Galaxy S26 series is becoming “inevitable”due to significantly rising costs for essential components:

Unlike the Galaxy S25 series, which launched at stable pricing in South Korea, the Galaxy S26 lineup cannot maintain price stability.
Primary smartphone components, such as Application Processors (APs), are experiencing substantial price increases.
Samsung’s semiannual report from August indicated a 12% year-over-year increase in mobile AP costs, while camera module prices jumped by 8%.
The heightened demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI applications is constraining global DRAM supply, leading to further price escalation for mobile LPDDR5 components.
For instance, the cost for a 96Gb LPDDR5 chip has surged by 16% since the first quarter of 2025.
Competing brands, such as Xiaomi, have already adjusted their pricing, raising the retail price of the Redmi K90 launched in October.
Other Chinese manufacturers like Oppo and Vivo are also following suit with planned price hikes.

Insights from Goldman Sachs on Smartphone Margins

Excerpt from Goldman Sachs’ Xiaomi report: Are smartphone price increases inevitable? Smartphone makers will feel strong cost pressure due to rising memory prices. The memory price upcycle poses greater challenges to pricing/shipment volumes for mass-market models than for… pic.twitter.com/q11MiGC9DC

— Jukan (@Jukanlosreve) November 4, 2025

Goldman Sachs has issued commentary indicating that smartphone gross margins will remain under significant pressure for the next 12 to 18 months, a situation that does not favor Samsung’s ambitions for the Galaxy S26 series. The firm highlights:

The shift in global DRAM capacity towards HBM is causing an ongoing increase in the cost of low-power DRAM.
Market analysts from TrendForce have updated their forecast for conventional DRAM pricing in Q4 2025, projecting a growth rate of 18% to 23%, with potential for further increases.
According to CMF data, prices for LPDDR4X DRAM (6GB/8GB/12GB) have risen by 7–12% since late September, and show a year-over-year increase of 76–158% compared to Q4 2024.
The supply-demand dynamics for DRAM and NAND in 2026 are expected to worsen, potentially triggering continued price surges throughout that year.
CMF estimates that for the Redmi Note 14, the cost for the 8GB+256GB uMCP has risen sharply to $49, representing a 70% annual increase.
Similarly, for the Redmi 15C, the overall memory cost for the 4GB+128GB model is anticipated to increase from $18 to $27, marking a rise of +8pp.

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