Phone manufacturers are certainly feeling the pinch of the RAM and storage shortages. Apple recently increased prices across most of its products, the new Google Pixels received their own price hikes and now Samsung has joined in with price bumps across its Galaxy S26 lineup that launched earlier this year.
Thankfully, most Australian retailers have so far held off introducing most of the latter, and there are even some respectable deals on offer — Amazon has the 256GB base S26 discounted to just AU$1,127, for example, representing a 32% reduction from Samsung’s new pricing. If you’ve been considering upgrading your phone to a new flagship model, this is a prime opportunity to bag one for less.
Galaxy S26 (256GB): was $1649 now $1127
Costing less than Samsung’s new Galaxy S26 FE mid-ranger and Apple’s budget iPhone 17e, this deal gives you a true flagship Android handset, with triple-camera setup, 12GB of RAM and the full Galaxy AI suite. I did see this model dip below AU$1,000 in August, but given the price-increase we've seen since then, we think this discount is worth jumping on. Amazon has the Black, Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue and White colours available for this price, and you can also trade in your old phone for more savings.View Deal
Our Samsung Galaxy S26 review praised the bright AMOLED display, reliable cameras and long battery life. Storage options now also start at 256GB — up from the predecessor’s 128GB — and the screen size also increased from 6.2 inches to 6.3 inches, while retaining the same dimensions.
Those changes, plus the other improvements over the S25, meant the S26 came with a price increase from AU$1,399 to AU$1,549 at launch, and that has since gone up by another AU$100 to AU$1,649 earlier this month. That makes the 32% saving at Amazon all the more tempting.
One caveat that we should note about the base Galaxy S26 is that Aussies miss out on the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset found in the US model — locally, this model uses Samsung's own Exynos 2600 processor. Our colleagues over at Tom’s Guide, however, argue that the difference is marginal in their tests, so you likely won’t be able to tell the difference in most scenarios.
Our reviewer also noted the relatively slow 25W charging speed and the lack of full Qi2 wireless charging support, commenting that this phone is only worth buying when it’s on sale.
With this deal dropping the price by 32% vs the revised RRP, that latter sentiment has come true — and overall, the Galaxy S26 is still an easy recommendation despite those caveats, and is a solid entry-level flagship with the specs to back it up.
Samsung Galaxy price hikes
Having launched in March this year, Samsung’s 2026 S-series flagships have been out for a bit over 6 months and have even seen some generous discounts in major Australian sale events like EOFY and Prime Day. The brand has since increased the prices across the three Galaxy S26 handsets, ranging from AU$100 to AU$250, depending on the configuration as follows:
- Galaxy S26 256GB:
was AU$1,549, now AU$1,649 - Galaxy S26 512GB:
was AU$1,849, now AU$1,949 - Galaxy S26 Plus 256GB:
was AU$1,849, now AU$1,949 - Galaxy S26 Plus 512GB:
was AU$2,149, now AU$2,249 - Galaxy S26 Ultra 256GB:
was AU$2,199, now AU$2,299 - Galaxy S26 Ultra 512GB:
was AU$2,499, now AU$2,599 - Galaxy S26 Ultra 1TB:
was AU$2,949, now $3,199
Samsung's recently released 2026 foldables and the Galaxy S26 FE so far haven’t seen price hikes (as of October 14), though most of them came with increases over their respective predecessors.