We’re expecting three Samsung Galaxy S25 phones to launch sometime in January 2025, but the latest rumors suggest the Standard Edition may be the last of its kind – with Samsung possibly dropping the cheapest, smallest Galaxy S26 model in 2026 .
This comes from the generally reliable Ice universe (via SamMobile), and while it’s somewhat speculative for now, there’s some good reasoning behind it: specifically that the Plus and Ultra models account for the majority of handset sales.
The tipster says part of the problem Samsung and Apple face is that Chinese companies like Oppo and Xiaomi are now much better at making small and powerful phones, narrowing the market for everyone else.
While Apple can still use iOS to differentiate its iPhones, Samsung cannot. As a result, Samsung may “cancel” the Galaxy S26 as it is “no longer competitive,” leaving only the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Past and future
When OPPO Find X8 is released, you will notice that one of the features of the new flagship in 2024 is that it is small and powerful. Chinese brands are much better at making small mobile phones than Samsung and Apple. You will realize that the Galaxy S25 is no longer…October 1, 2024
What gives this rumor extra credence is that Samsung just launched the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus and Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra Android tablets without any sign of a standard model – so not a successor to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, for whatever reason.
You may remember that Samsung started releasing two versions of its flagship smartphone in 2015 with the Samsung Galaxy S6. Launched in 2020, the Samsung Galaxy S20 series was the first to adopt the Standard, Plus and Ultra approaches.
Nearly five years later, it looks like Samsung is willing to change that again – depending on how the Galaxy S25 performs. There’s no indication that Samsung will move away from its three-phone format before its flagship launch in 2025.
Of course we also have the Fan Edition (FE) versions of these phones, most recently the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE. This version typically comes later, offering similar specs at a lower price and pushing the standard model into an even bigger niche.