Did Samsung quietly take the scissors to the Galaxy S26 roadmap — and still end up charging more for the final phones?
For months the rumor mill promised Samsung would finally shake up the S-series: a thinner Edge replacing the Plus, a compact Pro variant, built‑in Qi2 magnets for MagSafe‑style wireless charging, bigger batteries, faster charging speeds and a meaningful camera jump on the Pro and Ultra. Then, according to multiple leaks, the company pulled most of that work last year to avoid hiking prices after Apple launched the iPhone 17 without a cost bump.
Plans trimmed, expectations dashed
Insiders say the company retrenched: shelved the Plus in favor of a thinner Edge concept, delayed camera upgrades, and scaled back hardware tweaks so the lineup looked more like a refinement than a reinvention. At best, buyers will see incremental changes — slightly faster wireless charging, a thinner S26 Ultra, and a bigger minimum storage tier — rather than the dramatic overhaul some were expecting.
Here’s roughly what Samsung reportedly scrapped at one point:
- Thicker set of upgrades to cameras and batteries
- Built‑in Qi2 magnetic array in the handset backs
- A larger rebrand/rethink of the base model into a true “Pro” shift
If you want a fuller look at what’s still expected from the family, our earlier Galaxy S26 preview goes into the rumored design and camera notes in more detail.
The Qi2 puzzle: chargers exist, magnets maybe don’t
One of the more confusing threads is magnetic wireless charging. Samsung suppliers and accessory leaks showed a 25W “Magnet Wireless Charger” and a magnetic powerbank — hardware that assumes Qi2 magnets somewhere in the ecosystem. But a prominent leaker claims the S26 Ultra won’t include built‑in magnets; instead, Samsung may go “Qi2 Ready,” relying on magnetized cases to align the puck.
That approach mirrors a path Apple used with cheaper iPhone models and Google’s own Pixel messaging: give users MagSafe‑style speeds only if they buy a compatible case. It’s a fine compromise for companies trying to avoid manufacturing complexity, but it’s awkward for people who prefer naked phones — and it raises questions about how many customers will actually get the claimed 15–25W wireless performance without buying additional accessories.
If Samsung leans into case‑based Qi2 support, the accessories Samsung teased could make sense even without magnets inside the phones. Still, it’s not the clean, all‑in hardware statement many Android fans hoped for.
Overclocked silicon, underwhelming gains
The S26 Ultra is also in the spotlight for its overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Samsung has a history of shipping slightly higher‑clocked Qualcomm chips in its flagships, but benchmark comparisons show the real‑world payoff may be tiny. Independent tests comparing a standard Elite Gen 5 in a gaming phone against the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s overclock showed the non‑Samsung device was measurably faster — likely thanks to more aggressive cooling in third‑party hardware.
That suggests Samsung’s overclocking is a marginal performance tweak rather than a substantial advantage, and it amplifies the feeling that the S26 family may be polished rather than revolutionary.
The price paradox: trimmed features, creeping costs
You’d think cutting features would keep prices steady. But leaks out of Europe paint a different picture: modest but real price increases on certain S26 models. One set of rumors put the base S26 up by around €40 over the 256GB S25, the S26+ up by roughly €100, and higher‑capacity Ultra variants rising by about €100 each. That’s not a dramatic jump, but it stings when the upgrades are, by many accounts, limited.
For Samsung, the math is messy: avoid a headline price hike by simplifying hardware and yet still face inflationary pressure on components such as memory. The result — a lineup with fewer new tricks but some models costing more — is an easy way to frustrate buyers.
Unpacked will be the story, again — of AI or hardware?
Samsung’s 2025 Unpacked leaned heavily into Galaxy AI, and reporters are betting the company will replay that theme. There’s reason to expect more AI talk this year, but perhaps streamlined: the platform has already been introduced, and Samsung may choose to balance AI messaging with hardware time on stage. The mix matters, because the event will sell more than specs — it will set expectations for whether Samsung is pushing devices or services.
Android makers have been filling their events with AI demos across the past year, and Samsung is no exception; Samsung’s close work with Google also puts AI features in front of product launches in ways that extend beyond the phone itself. For a sense of how AI is shaping mobile launches in practice, see how Google has been integrating agentic features into apps like Maps and Search (Google’s AI Mode Adds Agentic Booking).
Where that leaves shoppers
If you were waiting for a bold rethink of Samsung’s S line, the leaks deliver a mixed bag: cleaner designs, some modest hardware improvements, and a continued focus on software and AI — but fewer built‑in innovations like Qi2 magnets and camera overhauls. And while Samsung may have tried to avoid an outright price fight, early regional pricing leaks suggest buyers could still pay more for noticeably less new hardware.
In short: keep an eye on the Unpacked run‑time breakdown between AI and hardware, watch for final decisions on Qi2 support and battery/charging specs, and compare final prices when Samsung makes them official. The S26 launch is shaping up to be less about a single wow moment and more about how Samsung packages incremental wins into a year’s worth of software and accessories — for better or worse.