Timing is everything. The memory chip crisis has squeezed Samsung’s pricing strategy throughout 2026, producing weaker deals than previous years and forcing the Korean company to trim its promotions at the edges. But it now looks like Samsung isn’t abandoning its aggressive discount playbook entirely. It’s just saving the best Galaxy S26 Ultra prices for when buyers are most likely to be looking. Memorial Day was clearly one of them.
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The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra just received its first serious price drop. (Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Last week I reported that Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra deal didn't match the equivalent Galaxy S25 Ultra promotion from the same period last year. The May 12th 2026 $200 Galaxy S26 Ultra discount was $30 less than the May 12th 2025 $230 Galaxy S25 Ultra price drop. The new promotion was also missing three months of Samsung Care Plus and an extra 5% off via the Samsung Shop app with the code "APP5."
But there is more to the story. Samsung was clearly saving its headline deal for Memorial Day. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is now $250 off, bringing it down to $1,049.99. This is one of the lowest prices since launch and the first Galaxy S26 Ultra discount to genuinely beat the equivalent Galaxy S25 Ultra deal from last year.
Trade-in prices have also improved meaningfully since last week. The Galaxy S22 Ultra has jumped from $260 to $350. But my other benchmark trade-in device, the iPhone 14 Pro, has remained at $214.
There are still some gaps compared to last year’s promotion. Three months free of Samsung Care Plus isn’t included, and the popular APP5 discount code that knocked a further 5% off Samsung purchases through the app still doesn’t work. The new promotion does come with $100 in store credit, however. You can see where Samsung is still trying to save money to mitigate memory crises losses, but the headline price is still a solid discount in a time of rising prices.
The struggling iPhone Air got its own Memorial Day discount this weekend, hitting its lowest price since launch. Two of the biggest names in consumer technology saving their most competitive pricing for the same public holiday weekend isn't a coincidence.
The memory chip crisis hasn't killed smartphone deals. It has concentrated them. With manufacturing costs significantly higher than previous years, Samsung can't sustain the kind of rolling monthly discounts that defined 2024 and 2025.
Instead, we may see more modest price drops throughout the year, with meaningful discounts reserved for major public shopping holidays like Memorial Day, Black Friday, and possibly Amazon Prime Day.
That's when units are shifted in major numbers, so it makes sense to wait. We'll have to see if Samsung can match its $850 Black Friday Galaxy S25 Ultra price this year. I wasn't convinced we'd see a discount of that size again because of the memory chip crisis, but this Memorial Day sale may show otherwise.
For buyers the calculus has changed. Waiting for a random sale may not pay off the way it used to. Waiting for the next public holiday almost certainly will.
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