Samsung has done the one thing festive-season shoppers never expect. It made its flagships costlier. Right in the middle of Diwali buying season, the Samsung Galaxy S26 price in India has gone up by as much as 17 percent, and every single model in the lineup now starts above Rs 1 lakh.
The base Galaxy S26, which launched in January at Rs 87,999, now costs Rs 1,02,999 for the 256GB variant. Read that again. A phone that has been on sale for eight months just got Rs 15,000 more expensive. Phones are supposed to get cheaper with time. Samsung did not get that memo.
Samsung Galaxy S26 price in India: the full new list
The revised prices, effective September 23 according to a retail document doing the rounds, look like this:
- Galaxy S26 (12GB + 256GB): Rs 87,999 to Rs 1,02,999
- Galaxy S26 (12GB + 512GB): Rs 1,07,999 to Rs 1,22,999
- Galaxy S26+ (12GB + 256GB): Rs 1,19,999 to Rs 1,34,999
- Galaxy S26+ (12GB + 512GB): Rs 1,39,999 to Rs 1,54,999
- Galaxy S26 Ultra (12GB + 256GB): Rs 1,39,999 to Rs 1,54,999
- Galaxy S26 Ultra (12GB + 512GB): Rs 1,59,999 to Rs 1,74,999
- Galaxy S26 Ultra (16GB + 1TB): Rs 1,89,999 to Rs 2,14,999
Most variants are up by a flat Rs 15,000. The top-end 1TB Ultra takes the biggest hit at Rs 25,000 extra, which means Samsung’s best phone now costs Rs 2,14,999. That is hatchback money. For a phone.
Memory chips are the villain here
Industry sources quoted by PTI blame rising costs of memory chips, motherboards and other components. That part is believable. Memory prices have been climbing all year, and Samsung is not alone: Apple has also pushed iPhone prices higher in India this season.
Context matters, though. The S26 series already launched 8 to 15 percent pricier than the S25 range it replaced. So this is the second increase in the same product cycle, stacked on top of the first. Samsung has not officially commented on the hike yet, which tells its own story.
Small aside from the retail floor: hikes like this rarely reach the customer in full. Expect stores and online platforms to quietly soften the blow with bank offers and exchange bonuses over the next few weeks, because a Rs 1,54,999 starting price for the Ultra is a tough sell in a month built entirely around discounts.
Paying more for the exact same phone feels wrong
Here is my problem with this move. A mid-cycle price hike punishes exactly the buyers Samsung should reward: the patient ones. People who waited for the festive season, expecting the usual price drop, are instead being asked to pay Rs 15,000 more than the early buyers did in January. The phone has not improved. The box has not changed. Only the number has.
And the timing is rough. While Samsung rewrites its flagship price tags, the value action this season is happening at the other end of the market. The Mivi One 5G just launched at Rs 11,999 with clean Android and a proper service network behind it. The Ai+ Pulse 2 FE gives you a 120Hz screen for Rs 9,999. Even the Lava Virat Curve 5G at Rs 19,999 throws in a second rear display for fun. None of these replace an Ultra, obviously. But they show where the energy in this market actually is.
Should you still buy a Galaxy S26?
If you were about to buy one this week, my honest advice is to pause. Festive bank offers will likely claw back a chunk of this hike within days, and Samsung’s own store usually moves first. Buying at the revised sticker price, in Diwali season of all times, makes little sense.
If you already own an S26, congratulations. Your phone just appreciated, which almost never happens with Android flagships.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 price in India story is bigger than one brand, though. Flagships crossed Rs 1 lakh a while ago. Now even the entry model of a flagship family lives there, and it got there not with a new launch, but with a quiet price revision in September. That is the part worth sitting with.