Samsung just made its own flagship discount look better by raising prices first.
Samsung increased prices across the Galaxy S26 lineup in Australia, with hikes ranging from AU$100 to AU$250 depending on configuration, bringing the base 256GB model from AU$1,549 at launch to AU$1,649 now. The move follows similar price increases from Apple and Google, with all three companies pointing to RAM and storage shortages. Despite the hike, Amazon Australia is selling the base 256GB Galaxy S26 for AU$1,127, a 32% cut from the new list price. The S26 itself launched in March with a higher starting price than its predecessor, justified by a bigger screen, more base storage, and other upgrades.
The timing undercuts the shortage framing: a 32% discount landing weeks after a price hike suggests Samsung's new numbers already had room built in. It also means list-price increases are becoming a weak signal of what phones actually cost, something shoppers should watch across the whole 2026 flagship class, not just Samsung's.
Worth noting: the Australian base S26 runs Samsung's own Exynos 2600 instead of the Snapdragon chip in the US model, so this is a deal on a slightly different phone than Americans get.