Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 Won’t Hike Galaxy S26 Prices — Here’s Why

While Samsung has high hopes for the Exynos 2600, it is still expected to equip some Galaxy S26 units with Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chip. This has led to concerns about a potential price hike — the Galaxy Z Fold 7 comes costlier this year because it uses Snapdragon, but the Exynos-powered Flip 7 retains the same pricing. Thankfully, Qualcomm’s upcoming flagship processor may not see a major price bump.

Galaxy S26 prices may not increase thanks to modest Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chip cost rise

Samsung ships the Galaxy Z Flip 7 with its in-house Exynos 2500 globally, while the Fold 7 runs the Snapdragon 8 Elite worldwide. Industry analysts suggest the chip choice is the reason the new Flip saw no price jump while the Fold is $100 costlier. It’s natural for Galaxy fans to be concerned about a price hike for the Galaxy S26 series. The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is highly likely to be part of the project.

Rumors suggest Samsung may adopt a dual-chip strategy for its Standard and Plus/Edge S26 model next year. While some regions may get the company’s own Exynos 2600 chip, others could get the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2. As for the Ultra model, it will reportedly use the Qualcomm chip globally. More importantly, Qualcomm was rumored to set a high price for the next Elite, which is terrible news for Samsung.

However, a recent leak suggests that the price increase will be modest, reducing the cost pressure on Samsung. Of course, the next-generation Qualcomm flagship will bring substantial improvements in terms of performance and power efficiency. Thankfully, the company appears to have no intention of significantly increasing the price.

If Qualcomm sticks to its decision, you can expect that the chip won’t cause an increase in the Galaxy S26 price. The tipster further says that memory makers have recently hiked the price of LPDDR5X memory by about 5%. Hopefully, this moderate increase also won’t significantly impact the overall cost of the device. We will learn more details about Samsung’s pricing strategy as the launch approaches.