As the impact of RAMageddon continues, a couple of this week’s key stories have had me thinking – is the somewhat-boring nature of Samsung’s year-over-year Galaxy flagship refreshes the exact thing making these devices a hit?
Outside of the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s wider new form factor, 2026 has been a pretty boring year for Samsung Galaxy devices. The Galaxy S26 series is nothing more than a chipset refresh and the Ultra’s Privacy Display, while the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Flip 8 were both refinements, the latter feeling like it’s on its last legs. Then the Galaxy S26 FE launched this week, which might as well be a poster child (right next to the Pixel 11 series) for the impacts of RAMageddon with its barely-updated package that costs more than last year.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is, as of the latest update, the world’s most popular Android phone. A $1,300 flagship is outselling Samsung’s uber-cheap budget phones that the company’s success is built on. That’s wild, and it’s also the first time that’s ever happened. It comes alongside foldables as a whole being the one segment of the smartphone market that isn’t shrinking back right now – it’s actually growing steadily. New forecasts from the IDC this week claim that the “cheap smartphone era is over” and that price hikes are essentially never going away, and it’s just looking so bleak.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a hit, and that’s probably in large part because not only is it new, but it directly addresses feedback from users. Thin and light, media-centric designs have been among the biggest requests from foldables right up there alongside ditching the crease – which the Fold 8 also more or less does. The Galaxy S26 Ultra manages this in far less exciting fashion. There was nothing especially new or groundbreaking about the latest Samsung flagship – Privacy Display rules, but it’s not exactly a game-changer – but it proved incredibly popular. I suspect that comes down largely to the simple fact that, if you’re looking for a new smartphone, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is an incredibly safe bet. For the millions on older Galaxy flagships, it’s a no-brainer, especially with trade-in deals thrown up on top.
The strategy is working. No one has to like it, but it is working. On that note, the other thing on my mind was an opinion post asking if Samsung is actually the problem, or if slab smartphone design as a whole has “peaked.” On the one hand, yes, smartphone design has pretty much peaked. On the other, yes, Samsung is the problem. As we’ve discussed repeatedly at this point, Samsung’s existing Galaxy design is an actual problem for users and for the future of smartphone accessories. The market is moving in a direction that Samsung’s phones are incompatible with, and Samsung’s answer to that is apparently to make changes on its highest-end designs and leave the base models stubbornly in the same place. Yes, Samsung is the problem.
But as RAMageddon continues and Samsung’s devices remain a steady rock in the turbulent market, I can’t blame anyone for going for a Galaxy flagship. Boring or not, it checks all of the boxes, and that’s really all that matters for the time being.
Google this week launched its second special edition Fitbit Air, this time one that integrates with Pokemon Sleep and has a design to match. The new design launches September 15, though with the same core band hardware that our Andrew Romero pointed out isn’t quite up to par in an editorial this week.
Gemini 3.5 Transcribe brings one of the best Pixel 11 features elsewhere
Google’s biggest Gemini announcement this week was around Gemini 3.5 Transcribe, a new speech-to-text model that powers Gboard’s Rambler feature on the Pixel 11 series, but will soon expand to Chrome.
Rounding out our Pixel 11 series reviews, Will’s Pixel 11 Pro XL and my Pixel 11 Pro Fold reviews are both live.
Damien also posted a comparison of Pixel 10 and Pixel 11 over on the 9to5Google YouTube channel.
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