Samsung keeps raising Galaxy S26 production — demand still hasn't cooled
Samsung's Galaxy S26 series is still selling fast enough to force a second straight production increase, a pattern that almost never happens this far past a phone's release. The company has raised its May manufacturing target to 2.4–2.5 million units, up from an initial plan of 1.9–2.1 million, per SamMobile. That kind of sustained component ordering, two months after launch, surprises even Samsung's own supply-chain contacts.
The numbers
April already saw a similar move: Samsung pushed that month's output from 2.4 million to 3 million units after actual demand ran 600,000 units ahead of forecast. For May, the breakdown looks like this — 1 million Galaxy S26 base models, 200,000 Galaxy S26+ units, and up to 1.3 million Galaxy S26 Ultra. The lopsided split tells a clear story: the Ultra is doing the heavy lifting, accounting for roughly 60–80% of total series sales depending on the week, according to Sammy Fans.
Supply-chain sources say the Privacy Display — which limits screen visibility to anyone not looking straight at the phone — is the standout feature pulling buyers toward the Ultra. It's a straightforward appeal in an era when AI data concerns and screen-snooping anxieties are front of mind for a lot of consumers.
Why this matters
Standard phone demand curves drop off sharply after the first few weeks. The fact that Samsung is still adding capacity in month two suggests the S26 has real upgrade momentum, not just a launch spike. Pre-orders for the series came in more than 10% above the Galaxy S25's early pace, which had already signaled something unusual was happening.
In the US, the Ultra starts at $1,299 — the same as the S25 Ultra. In the UK, pricing sits at £879 for the base model and £1,249 for the Ultra, also broadly in line with last year. Samsung appears to be absorbing cost pressure rather than passing it on, keeping the phones competitive ahead of Apple's iPhone 17 cycle later this year.
The Galaxy S26+ remains the odd one out: its May allocation was actually cut by 100,000 units, suggesting buyers are choosing between the base model and the Ultra rather than landing in the middle.
