Samsung’s new lineup of its flagship smartphone are finally on shelves. The company had been running some pretty lucrative pre-order promotions for the Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra—offering high trade-in rates for old phones and steep discounts on additional accessories added to carts. Those pre-order promotions have ended now that the phone has officially released, though Samsung still has some perks still live for anyone ready to make their upgrade to the S26 Ultra now.
First up is that if you are willing to part with your old phone, you can trade it into Samsung to receive up to $720 off on your order of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. During pre-orders, that trade-in value had gone as high as $900, so while the ceiling is a tad lower than it was before, you can still knock off a fair chunk of change when ordering your new phone.
If you don’t have an old working phone to offer, Samsung is also offering a $150 Samsung credit for purchasing the new S26 Ultra without a trade-in. This is the same value offered during pre-orders as well.
New in addition to these promos is a bonus 15% discount on the newly released Buds4 and Buds4 Pro. The Buds4 are normally $180, but the discount brings them down to just $153. Likewise, the Buds4 Pro price would drop from $250 to just $212. The Galaxy Buds deal can be combined with the $150 credit, so if you go for the standard Buds4, you’d only be paying an additional $3 which is pretty nice.
Beyond that, Samsung is also offering a separate $30 credit which can be redeemed after watching the Samsung Live broadcast which overviews the new Galaxy product releases for 2026.
Updates in the Galaxy S26 Series
The latest generation of smartphones from Samsung introduces a set of measured hardware revisions rather than sweeping changes. Battery capacities stay aligned with the previous release, and storage tiers remain familiar across the lineup. The company also keeps the same processor family that powered last year’s devices.
One configuration change appears at the top end of the storage range. The 1TB Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra models comes with 16GB of memory, giving the phone extra breathing room for demanding tasks and multitasking. Last year’s S25 Ultra maxed out at just 12GB of RAM.
A more visible addition arrives with the display technology inside the flagship device. Samsung built a Privacy Display directly into the screen, allowing the panel to restrict side-angle visibility. People nearby see a dim or distorted picture while the owner keeps a clear front view. No need for a stick-on privacy screen protectors.
Because the feature operates at the pixel level, the filter can be enabled or disabled in system settings. Users can toggle the feature manually or assign it to certain applications. For instance, messaging tools, banking services, and email clients can activate the mode automatically. Then entertainment apps such as TikTok may run with the filter disabled so friends can watch together.