Samsung Galaxy S26 Preorders Surge 25% As Ultra Dominates US Demand
Today marks the retail launch of Samsung's Galaxy S26 series, and there is reason to believe the latest flagship lineup will sell like gangbusters. Ahead of the launch, Samsung and its retail partners were accepting preorders, which skyrocketed nearly 25% across all channels, according to Samsung. That includes preorder sales direct from Samsung, its retail partners like Amazon and Best Buy, and major wireless carriers.
The uptick in preorder sales is even more impressive when narrowing the focus to just the big cellular carriers (presumably AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, though it may include others as well).
"Major carriers are reporting significant early momentum, with more than a 70% increase in preorders when compared to the S25 series. While retailers, including Best Buy, are seeing more than double the preorder volumes than the previous generation," Samsung states.
In keeping with past flagship Galaxy launches, Samsung launched three core models: Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and Galaxy S26 Ultra. The Ultra model has seen the biggest boost in preorders, with Samsung saying it accounted for 80% of them. Or put another way, 8 out of 10 Galaxy S26 series preorders were for the Ultra model.
It certainly helped that Samsung and its partners offered up some preorder incentives, including a free boost to 512GB of internal storage (versus 256GB on each of the base models). Amazon sweetened the pot by bundling gift cards of up to $200, while Best Buy increased its trade-in credit, potentially knocking the price down on the Ultra all way to $399.99.
If you missed out on the preorder bonanza, don't fret, some of the offers are still in play. Here's a look...
- Galaxy S26 Ultra 512GB + $200 Amazon Gift Card: $1,499.99
- Galaxy S26+ 512GB + $100 Amazon Gift Card: $1,099.99 (15% off)
- Galaxy S26 512GB + $100 Gift Card: $899.99 (18% off)
Originally, the Ultra model was priced at a discounted $1,299.99 with a $200 gift card at Amazon, but it's not showing up at the time of this writing. Furthermore, the 512GB model priced at $1,499.99 is shown as being temporarily out of stock. The special pricing on that model may be in the rear view mirror at this point.
That said, you can still take advantage of boosted trade-in values at Best Buy, along with up to a $100 gift card to boot.
