Am I missing something or is Samsung intentionally setting up the Galaxy S26 Ultra to fail?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months or so, you probably already know that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a bigger box-office hit than the “vanilla” S25 and the S25 Plus. Despite its… uncomfortable price point, the largest and most sophisticated member of Samsung’s latest (non-foldable) ultra-high-end handset family has managed to continue a trend noticed in recent years, substantially outselling its smaller and cheaper brothers right off the bat and maintaining that global advantage to this day (presumably).

Gosh, I hope that charging “upgrade” will not be one of the S26 Ultra’s key selling points!

Because if it is, then we might be in for a world of mediocrity here. Mediocrity by Android flagship standards, of course, but mediocrity nonetheless. Allow me to very simply illustrate that point with a quick list of product names and numbers:

But even if it’s only theoretical in markets like the US, competition matters, and Samsung can’t just act like those aforementioned China-based companies don’t exist. The thing about the above list is that it’s not comprehensive (far from it, actually), and it doesn’t only include super-expensive Android flagships either.

If not this, then what?

Feeling bored is arguably worse than feeling disappointed in the lead-up to a major smartphone’s launch, although I can’t really say which of those two feelings better describes my current relationship with the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Luckily for Samsung, there’s still plenty of time to change that for myself and any of you that might be sharing my… apathy. There it is, the best way to describe Samsung’s “next big thing” right now!