Samsung Galaxy S26 series may not come with a standard model — here’s why

The arrival of the Samsung Galaxy S26 series could spell the end for the basic Galaxy S model, according to new evidence spotted by SammyPolice and erenylmaz075 on X.

There is now a listing for the Galaxy S26 Pro in the GSMA database, which lists all smartphone models launched globally. This entry has the model number SM-S942, which used to belong to the Galaxy S26. You can see in the previous version of the listing that SammyPolice sourced that nothing else has changed beyond the addition of the word "Pro."

Samsung has yet to launch a phone with the Pro title, despite using it for other devices like laptops, and how common the suffix is among other phone brands. But even with the introduction of this new name, it's possible that Samsung won't make any material changes to the Galaxy S26 Pro compared to what would have been the Galaxy S26.

Changing the name could be purely a marketing strategy, helping to position Samsung's phones more directly against pro iPhones or Pixels, rather than one meant to symbolize a whole new kind of flagship Samsung phone.

We'll have to wait for more rumors to fill in the gaps in our knowledge to figure out exactly what's happening here, but it's worth paying attention to if you've been considering an Android phone upgrade in the near future.

There could be a second victim

We've also heard recently that the Galaxy S26 Plus may not appear next year as planned, with Samsung instead replacing it with a Galaxy S26 Edge.

This swap makes sense considering the Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Edge have similar pricing and display size, only differing in their camera loadout, materials and battery capacity.

Samsung's Galaxy S Plus models have historically been the worst-selling out of all Galaxy S versions since the Ultra arrived. So it stands to reason that Samsung may want to try something new to draw people back to the center spot in its flagship phone line-up.

There have been several rumors about the Galaxy S26 Ultra too, far more than for the other phones in the family. The new Ultra is believed to be thinner and lighter than the outgoing Galaxy S25 Ultra, with 60W fast charging and more AI services. However, it may not get a battery capacity upgrade from previous Ultras.

Expect to see the Galaxy S26 series arrive in January 2026. But for the details on what the leak-o-sphere's said already about these phones, check our rumor hub.

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