What you need to know
- Samsung shared details about its early Galaxy S26 series pre-orders, stating the newest phones are up 25%, but the S26 Ultra takes 80%.
- Major retailers are seeing a sharp rise in consumer pre-orders for the S26 series, such as Best Buy, which reports “more than double” the traffic.
- The last day to pre-order the new phones is today (Mar 10) ahead of its March 11 market release across all channels.
We are a day away from Samsung’s Galaxy S26 series going live in stores; however, there’s new details being shared about its pre-order performance.
The Galaxy S26 series introduced a thinner line of phones with more of Samsung’s AI, and with that, the company says pre-orders have climbed 25%. A press release cites “robust early demand” for the Galaxy S26 series ahead of its official March 11 in-store and online release. While the latest series sees pre-orders increase by 25%, Samsung says the Galaxy S26 Ultra accounts for 80% of those early grabs.
Samsung highlights major retailers, such as Best Buy, which have seen an increase in early consumers for the S26. It states retailers have seen “more than double the pre-order volume” over the Galaxy S25 series.
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The post attributes this increased interest in the Galaxy S26 to its AI-powered camera enhancements (Nightography), Generative Edit, and Super Steady horizontal lock. However, what’s likely the biggest cause of the S26 Ultra’s interest is the Privacy Display, which Samsung acknowledges as a trending topic on social media. Today (Mar 10) is the last day consumers can pre-order the Galaxy S26 series before it hits the market for real on March 11.
It adds, “Customers interested in upgrading or making the switch to the Galaxy S26 series can take advantage of competitive savings on Samsung.com – with up to $900 eligible instant trade-in credit or receive $150 without trade-in to apply toward other eligible devices when pre-ordering on Samsung.com. Offer ends at midnight.”
Pre-orders soar for a reason
During Galaxy Unpacked, Android Central’s Derrek Lee got to play with the Galaxy S26 series for a few minutes. Not only did the series feel like an enhanced Pixel experience, but the S26 Ultra’s display stole the show immediately. The Privacy Display introduced by Samsung is the first of its kind on a hardware level. Users can activate this to hide their display from an angle, meaning prying eyes, when you’re out in public (or at home), can’t see what you’re doing.
Major strides toward increasing the power of the Galaxy S26 series, including advancements in a brighter 200MP camera, were taken. For the base S26, Samsung increased its starting storage to 256GB, while the S26 Plus received faster wireless charging. It’s worth mentioning that Qi2 is supported on the S26 series; however, you will need the appropriate case to get this working.
Android Central’s Take
I’m not surprised by the statistics Samsung has pulled out for its Galaxy S26 series’ pre-orders. If I were to quickly go over the upgrades—Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, thinner overall build, brighter cameras, more Galaxy AI, etc.—you get to the most meaningful thing: the Ultra’s Privacy Display. Could Samsung have brought a little more to theS26 and S26 Plus? Probably. But we have the most significant addition on the Ultra and it clearly shows that consumers are vibing with it. Maybe out of sheer interest. Maybe out of sheer curiosity. The fact of the matter is the Galaxy S26 is putting up numbers, but can Samsung keep it going?
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