While Samsung has quietly raised the price of several phones, including the nine-month-old Galaxy Z Fold 7, as have other Android manufacturers, Google hasn’t yet put prices up. Instead, it continues to run major price drops for its Pixel 10 series in the face of rising manufacturing costs. But how long can the company keep its aggressive pricing strategy up?
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Google Slashes The Price Of The Pixel 10 Again As Rivals Do The Opposite
The Google Store has slashed the price of the entire Pixel 10 series this week. The base Pixel 10 is down to $599, a $200 discount. The Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL are $250 cheaper, while the Pixel 10 Pro Fold gets a $300 price cut, bringing it down to $1,499.
The price cut is something the company has done repeatedly since the devices launched. This is fairly normal for Google and a common trend in the Android world (the only noteworthy Apple discount went to the iPhone Air), except it isn’t guaranteed in 2026.
Samsung raised the price of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 1TB to $2,499.99 from $2,419.99 in the U.S., an $80 jump. The 512GB model has also gone up by $80 to $2,199.99, while the entry-level 256GB remains at $1,999.99. Prices for the foldable have gone up in Korea, too.
The Korean company is also planning to raise the retail cost for several Samsung Galaxy A-series phones by between INR 500 ($6) and INR 3,500 ($38). It may not seem like much, but this is the fifth price hike for select Samsung Galaxy phones in India since January.
This is all thanks to the price of memory chips surging by 90% in Q1 of 2026, which is driven by AI companies buying up all the available supply for data centers. Those costs are being passed on to consumers, as we’ve seen with Motorola, Xiaomi, and Oppo phones.
In fairness to Samsung, the company is currently running a promotion that drops the price of the Galaxy S26 series. But the $100 discount brings the base Galaxy S26 down to the launch price of the Galaxy S25. The Galaxy S26 Plus is $75 cheaper than its predecessor, while the Galaxy S26 Ultra only comes with a $100 store credit. Those numbers pale in comparison to the $200 discount the Galaxy S25 Ultra received at this time last year.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 series is also currently on sale, with the 1TB model getting a $400 discount (now down to $2,099.99), but its non-sale price remains higher than when it launched.
Google, however, has not only stuck with its discount strategy, it also hasn’t raised prices at all. But how long can that last?
Pixel 10 Price Cuts Are A Smart Strategy For Google And Buyers
Samsung’s price increases show the company’s strategy is margin over volume. Google, however, may have seen an opportunity to eat into its rivals’ market share with stark price differences.
To do that, it will be eating the costs of higher manufacturing prices to make its Pixel 10 phones. This is something the company can (for now) get away with because Pixel hardware isn’t the bread and butter of its business. Search and cloud are. Google treats hardware as a distribution channel for Gemini and the Google One AI Premium subscription. More Pixel 10 users means more subscribers, whereas Samsung has to maintain hardware margins as a key revenue driver.
Google can do this because Pixel phones take up a small piece of the smartphone shipments market share (4% in the U.S.), so higher manufacturing costs aren’t as impactful as they are for a company like Samsung, or other larger Android makers.
But how long can Google keep these Pixel 10 prices low? Analysts from IDC don’t expect memory prices to stabilize until late 2027. Google will release its Pixel 11 before that, and manufacturing cost realities may be too hard to ignore. For buyers, the advice is clear: pick up these Pixel 10 deals while they last because the ultra-cheap smartphone is becoming increasingly rare. Don’t forget to keep on top of smartphone price cuts by signing up to my newsletter here.
