Thanks primarily to the S26 Ultra‘s reasonable price (all things considered) and a groundbreaking new Privacy Display feature (exclusively made available on said Ultra model), Samsung’s latest high-end handsets got off to a stronger start at the global box-office than the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra did last year.
That was confirmed by multiple reports released by a number of different media outlets and market research firms over the past couple of months, but while Counterpoint Research largely corroborates the success story of the Galaxy S26 trio yet again today, there’s clearly a cause for concern for the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor in this new analysis as well.
A 13 percent improvement is a great result nowadays
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is way more popular than the S25 Ultra. | Image by PhoneArena
But the Galaxy S26 series has apparently managed to defy that trend, gaining 13 percent on the sales figures of the S25 family during their first six weeks of global availability. This comparison took into account the late release of the S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra this year versus the S25 trio back in February 2025, mind you, so the double-digit gap doesn’t come from there.
Instead, it simply comes from consumers finding the S26 family more appealing in March and April 2026, especially in “developed” markets like the US and South Korea.
What happened in that sixth week?
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know (and Counterpoint analysts aren’t helping me with any theories either), but if I were to guess, I’d say the initial excitement over capabilities like the Privacy Display probably started to wear off by week five, further shrinking in week six without anything dramatic happening to cause a decline in demand.
This is… not an encouraging trend for Samsung. | Image by Counterpoint Research
In case you don’t remember, the Galaxy S25 series wasn’t exactly welcomed with massive enthusiasm by either prospective buyers or analysts, but as time went by, the early 2025-released phones received more and more love, maintaining their popularity surprisingly well through the end of the year and even the beginning of 2026.
Although it’s obviously premature for such predictions, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Galaxy S26 lineup ends up on a contradictory path of sorts, kicking off its commercial run on a high note (which seems to have happened) and then proving far less successful in the long run as Samsung is hit harder and harder by the industry’s volatility and the macroeconomic climate in many of the company’s strongest markets.
For now, the tech giant must be proud of the early sales results of the S26 trio (which are undeniably impressive), but also fearful of what could come next.
Samsung’s total sales are also up but also unlikely to continue going up
Presumably thanks to the Galaxy S26 family’s unexpectedly strong reception around the world, Samsung has apparently seen its cumulative smartphone sales numbers increase by 5 percent in the timeframe analyzed by Counterpoint Research today compared to the six weeks following the S25 series release last year.
The S26 may or may not come out victorious against the S25 at the end of 2026. | Image by PhoneArena
That might seem to suggest global demand is stable “at the brand level” too, but still, 5 percent is obviously a less impressive figure than the aforementioned 13 percent, so clearly, not a lot of other Samsung phones apart from the S26 roster are outperforming their forerunners so far this year.
As such, the company may not be able to boost its total volumes at the end of 2026 compared to 2025, especially with the Galaxy S26 series failing to impress in markets like China and Japan even as demand is strong in so many other territories. Basically, Apple’s industry supremacy is guaranteed to continue this year… unless iPhone sales fall off a cliff all of a sudden for no clear reason (which is certainly not going to happen).
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian’s passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for ‘adequate’ over ‘overpriced’.
