Khaberni - It seems that Apple's launch of the basic iPhone 17 within the iPhone 17 series had an impact on the original plans set by Samsung for the "Galaxy S26" phone series.
The first leaks regarding "Galaxy S26" painted a clear picture of Samsung's plans to change its usual lineup of phones, where it intended to replace the "Plus" model with the slimmer "Edge" model, and add the word "Pro" to the name of the basic model.
At that time, it was very difficult to know the reason why Samsung specifically decided to change the name of this basic model, and before the rumors provided any concrete clarification on the matter, the news of officially naming it "Pro" faded, according to a report by the technology news site "9to5Google," which "Al Arabiya Business" reviewed.
With the cancellation of the "S26 Edge" model or rescheduling its launch to be sometime later in 2026, it appears that the "Galaxy S26" series has returned to its usual shape.
The decision to abandon the ultra-slim "Galaxy S26 Edge" model in favor of the more traditional "Plus" model—especially after the failure of "S25 Edge"—seems logical and clearly justified, but the issue of abandoning the "Pro" naming in the basic model remained unexplained.
A new report by the Korean newspaper "NewsPim" revealed that Samsung was planning a very significant change for its smallest flagship phones, but a familiar competitor caused this change in plans.
According to the report, Samsung had planned to launch the basic "Galaxy S26" model with a new, slimmer design, featuring a larger battery capacity of 4,900 milliamp-hours and a thickness of 6.9 mm. These latest specifications are interesting because they match the leaked specifications from September when the "Pro" trade name was still being discussed.
The company was also planning on a slightly larger screen, which would have aligned well with Samsung's plans to rename this particular model specifically.
The reason behind Samsung's retreat from these plans was the launch of the basic iPhone 17 within the iPhone 17 series in September.
Apple launched a significantly improved basic iPhone model—with a 6.3-inch display at 120 Hz, similar to the higher-end iPhone Pro model—at a price similar to the previous generation's basic model, which helped Apple continue to sell the basic model at its usual pace, and perhaps even at the expense of some potential ultra-slim iPhone Air buyers.
This put Samsung between a rock and a hard place, as it had planned to increase the price of the new, slimmer-designed basic "Galaxy S26" phone.
As a result, Samsung began redesigning the basic "Galaxy S26" model anew, returning to a thickness of 7.2 mm like this year's phone, and a battery capacity of 4,300 milliamp-hours/hour.
Based on this, the final result is the same; the "Galaxy S26" series for 2026 will be more traditional and boring than previously anticipated.
