What happens? It appears that the base model Samsung Galaxy S26 will likely retain the same rear camera hardware as the Galaxy S25, rather than getting an upgrade as originally planned.
According to a report from South Korea, this decision appears to be due to a mix of factors such as rising semiconductor and memory costs, weaker-than-expected demand for the S25 Edge model and a larger market context that includes the pricing of competing phones.
Why Samsung made this call
Samsung has had to contend with higher memory and semiconductor costs, making it more expensive to build new camera hardware into the phone. Additionally, sales of the Galaxy S25 Edge reportedly fell short of expectations, which not only led to the discontinuation of the S26 Edge, but also prompted the company to be more cautious about spending on upgrades.
There’s also the Apple factor. Apple hasn’t increased the price of its base iPhone 17, and that may have prompted Samsung to delay the price increase on its own base Galaxy S26 for another year. Maintaining existing camera hardware is one way to avoid additional costs that would result in a price increase.
What this means for buyers of the Galaxy S26
If the report proves true, the Galaxy S26’s camera improvements will likely come from software improvements enabled by the Exynos 2600 chipset, rather than new sensors.
Samsung’s decision to scrap the camera upgrade reportedly comes at the last minute, slowing mass production of the Galaxy S26. Certain components will now need to be redesigned after they were originally built for the camera upgrade. Therefore, only the Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to begin mass production this month, while the S26 and S26 Plus are expected to begin production towards the end of January 2026. This could be why some early rumors suggested that Samsung might delay the launch of the Galaxy S26 instead of the usual January window.
It could now come down to whether Samsung can convince users that improvements they don’t see are still worth it.
