Galaxy S26 sales begin today, and almost everyone pre-ordered the Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series is now officially available to buy worldwide. This marks the end of the pre-order period following the debut of the phones at Galaxy Unpacked last month.

Alongside the announcement of global availability, Samsung also revealed that the lineup generated strong early demand. According to the company, pre-orders for the new phones surpassed previous records and saw a double-digit increase compared to earlier Galaxy launches.

The biggest standout from those early numbers was the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. Samsung says the Ultra model accounted for more than 70% of all pre-orders worldwide, making it by far the most popular option in the lineup.

Similar figures were also previously reported by Yonhap News Agency, citing pre-order sales for the Galaxy S26 series in South Korea. The numbers Samsung has shared today represent worldwide pre-orders and highlight that with each passing year, buyers are increasingly preferring Samsung’s Ultra flagship over its other models.

By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra made up about 52% of pre-orders when last year’s Galaxy S25 lineup launched. With the S26 Ultra taking more than 70% of early sales, the standard Samsung Galaxy S26 and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus together accounted for roughly 30% of pre-orders.

There are a few possible reasons why the Ultra model managed to pull even further ahead of the vanilla and Plus models this year. For starters, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is powered by the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip for Galaxy chip, while the S26 and S26 Plus use the Samsung Exynos 2600 in some markets outside of the US.

The Ultra also holds an important hardware advantage. It’s the only device in the lineup to include Samsung’s new Privacy Display, one of the most talked-about additions this generation. The feature helps prevent people nearby from viewing what’s on your screen, and isn’t available on the S26 or S26 Plus.

Now that pre-orders have ended, the entire Galaxy S26 lineup is broadly available starting today. All three phones come in common colors, including Cobalt Violet, White, Black, and Sky Blue, along with Samsung.com-exclusive options such as Pink Gold and Silver Shadow.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 series is also available widely now. The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Galaxy Buds 4 come in White and Black with a matte finish, while the Buds 4 Pro also gets a Pink Gold online-exclusive option.