Galaxy S23 series could see big price hike, but don't jump to conclusions yet

For the past two years, the Galaxy S phones have landed at predictable prices. The vanilla model has been $799, the Plus model has been $999, and the Ultra model has been $1,199. It’s been that way since 2021.

However, a new rumor (via 9to5Google) suggests that might not be the case when it comes to Samsung Galaxy S23 prices. The rumor suggests that pricing could go up significantly, actually.

The rumor stems from alleged pricing in Australia, which 9to5Google says could be as follows:

• AUD $1,350 (~$943) — Galaxy S23 with 128GB of storage
• AUD $1,450 (~$1,013) — Galaxy S23 with 256GB of storage
• AUD $1,650 (~$1,153) — Galaxy S23 Plus
• AUD $1,950 (~$1,363) — Galaxy S23 Ultra

When you compare these leaked AUD prices to AUD pricing for the Galaxy S22 series, you see jumps of about AUD $100. That’s about $70 in USD.

Now, one might see this and assume that there’s a good chance the Samsung Galaxy S23 prices could be more expensive here in the US. However, there are two problems with this conclusion. The first is that leaked pricing from other countries sometimes doesn’t pan out. We’ve seen this happen in the past, with a memorable example being leaked Galaxy Z Fold 3 pricing not panning out. The second reason you should take this rumor with a grain of salt is that foreign price increases don’t necessarily mean price increases outside of that country. It’s very possible Samsung plans to increase Australian pricing for the phones but not do that anywhere else.

We’ll need to wait and see how this pans out. However, if Samsung does increase pricing for the phones, it would probably be a big mistake. The phones do not appear to be sizeable upgrades over the last two generations, and the economy is not great at the moment. Launching similar phones for more money would be a big mistake. We hope Samsung doesn’t go this route.