Samsung Galaxy S26 Preorders Surge, Ultra Model Leads

According to Korean media outlet Financial News, Samsung Electronics’ 2026 spring flagship Galaxy S26 series has achieved record-breaking pre-order performance in the domestic market, surpassing 1.35 million units within just one week. This milestone exceeds the previous Galaxy S25 series record, which reached 1.3 million units over 11 days.

A significant share of demand has been concentrated in the premium model, with the Galaxy S26 Ultra accounting for approximately 70% of total pre-orders. Industry analysts attribute this trend largely to Samsung’s chipset strategy across the lineup. While the Galaxy S26 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile platform, the standard Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus models feature Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2600 processor.

Although the Exynos 2600 is built on Samsung’s advanced 2nm process and has demonstrated improved performance, market perception continues to favor Snapdragon platforms. In particular, users tend to associate Snapdragon chips with better thermal management and more consistent performance under demanding workloads, reinforcing stronger consumer confidence in the Ultra variant.

Pre-launch survey data further supports this trend, showing that 67.2% of respondents preferred devices equipped with Snapdragon processors, compared to just 9.8% favoring Exynos-based models.

From a technical perspective, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 leverages a 3nm architecture that integrates the CPU, GPU, and NPU into a unified design. This enables sustained performance alongside enhanced AI capabilities. The upgraded neural processing unit (NPU) supports simultaneous on-device processing of voice, text, and image-based AI tasks, contributing to a more responsive and intelligent user experience.

Korean media reports also highlight that even under high-load conditions—such as intensive gaming or high-resolution video recording—the Snapdragon platform maintains effective thermal control and power efficiency, minimizing performance throttling. These advantages are seen as key factors driving the strong market demand for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.