The Galaxy S27 Ultra is already shaping up to be one of Samsung’s most ambitious phones yet, and early leaks suggest that ambition will come with a higher price. At the center of the speculation is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, a next‑generation chip that promises major gains in performance and efficiency but is also expected to be significantly more expensive than today’s flagship silicon. Combined with rising memory costs and a more complex chipset strategy, the S27 Ultra could become one of Samsung’s priciest mainstream phones to date.
For buyers, the question is not just how fast the Galaxy S27 Ultra will be, but how much of that cutting‑edge hardware cost Samsung will pass along. With component prices climbing and Qualcomm reportedly carving out a premium tier for its most advanced mobile processor, the balance between bleeding‑edge specs and sticker shock is getting harder to maintain.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro raises the hardware stakes
Leaks point to Samsung using the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro in at least some versions of the Galaxy S27 Ultra, positioning the phone as a showcase for Qualcomm’s most advanced mobile silicon. Reports indicate that the phone could use this chip in a custom 1 + 3 + 3 core configuration, with the Phone tuned for both raw speed and sustained performance. That aligns with broader expectations that Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro will sit at the very top of Qualcomm’s stack, above a standard Elite Gen 6 part, and will be reserved for the most premium devices.
Qualcomm is expected to refresh its flagship lineup with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro as a halo product, creating clearer performance tiers among Android flagships. In that context, the Galaxy S27 Ultra would effectively become a reference device for what this silicon can do, similar to how earlier Galaxy Ultra models have been used to debut new Snapdragon generations. The trade‑off is that such a chip is not designed for cost efficiency, it is designed to win benchmarks and enable features like advanced AI processing, high‑end gaming and more sophisticated camera pipelines.
A premium chip with a premium bill of materials
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro is not just powerful, it is also expected to be expensive to manufacture. One report notes that with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 estimated to cost $280 per unit, the new Elite Gen 6 Pro will almost certainly come in higher. Another analysis goes further, stating that The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro is rumored to cost over $300, driven by its cutting‑edge 2 nm manufacturing and support for next‑generation memory.
Those figures matter because they feed directly into the bill of materials for any phone that adopts the chip. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 already pegged at $280, it is reasonable to expect that the Elite Gen 6 Pro will push device makers to either absorb the extra cost or raise retail prices. For a halo device like the Galaxy S27 Ultra, which typically layers on high‑end cameras, large OLED panels and generous storage, there is limited room to cut corners elsewhere, which makes a higher launch price more likely if Samsung wants to protect its margins.
2 nm manufacturing and LPDDR6 RAM add more pressure
Part of what makes the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro so expensive is the move to a 2 nm process and bleeding‑edge memory support. Chinese leaker DigitalChatStation has indicated that Qualcomm is using TSMC’s 2 nm process for both versions of its next flagship chip, with TSMC handling the manufacturing. That kind of node shift typically brings big efficiency gains, but it also comes with higher wafer costs, especially in the early years of a new process.
On top of that, Qualcomm is reportedly splitting its next flagship into two models, with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro bringing LPDDR6 RAM support to Android while the standard Elite Gen 6 may max out at LPDDR5. That split effectively turns LPDDR6 into a luxury feature, and any Galaxy S27 Ultra configuration that pairs the Pro chip with LPDDR6 will be stacking two of the most expensive components available in a smartphone today.
Rising memory prices and Samsung’s cost dilemma
Even without the new Snapdragon, Samsung is already facing a tougher cost environment. Company executives have warned that “rising component material costs, especially memory prices, are the biggest burden” on its smartphone business, with Roh Tae‑moon highlighting how higher DRAM and NAND prices are squeezing margins as devices add more AI features and storage‑hungry apps Still. That trend is expected to continue into the S27 generation, where more on‑device AI and higher default storage tiers will be table stakes.
One analysis focused on the Galaxy S27 Ultra notes that with memory prices expected to continue increasing next year, Samsung may have little option but to pass some of the additional cost to consumers. Another report on the same topic argues that with memory prices expected to continue increasing next year, Samsung may have little option but to pass some of the additional cost to consumers for what could be its most expensive Ultra ever, coming in early 2027. When you combine that with a chipset that is rumored to cost over $300, the pricing pressure on the S27 Ultra becomes hard to ignore.
Two Snapdragon tiers and a growing gap
Qualcomm’s decision to split its flagship line into a standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro is also reshaping expectations for how much buyers will pay for “Ultra” phones. Reports describe how Qualcomm is working on two versions of Snapdragon, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and a Gen 6 Pro, with Published leaks suggesting that the Pro variant will be reserved for the most premium flagships. That structure mirrors what has happened in the PC GPU market, where “Ti” or “Ultra” suffixes signal not just more performance but also a steep price jump.
Another leak advises buyers to Prepare to dig deeper, with Digital Chat Station claiming that the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 will most likely be reserved for devices that are not positioned as Ultra, while the Pro will be targeted at the most expensive Prepare “Ultra” phone next year. For Samsung, that effectively locks the Galaxy S27 Ultra into the higher cost bracket if it wants to stay competitive at the top of the Android market, while leaving the standard S27 and S27+ to compete on a lower tier with the non‑Pro chip.
