T-Mobile was advertising the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra for $5.55 a month on its own site when Android Police reported the offer Tuesday morning. Spread across 36 months, that works out to $1,200 off the phone's full price, and the carrier wasn't asking for a trade-in to unlock it.
The catch, and there's always one with carrier deals like this, is that it requires adding a new line on either the Experience More or Experience Beyond plan. Those start at roughly $90 and $105 a month for a single line, though T-Mobile's multi-line pricing and AutoPay discounts can bring that down. Anyone who already has a line they're happy with, or just wants an unlocked phone without a new plan attached, won't see this specific price.
What you're getting for it is one of Samsung's most capable phones to date. The Galaxy S26 Ultra ships with a 6.9-inch AMOLED screen, a built-in S Pen, and IP68 water and dust resistance, running on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip paired with 12GB of RAM. Samsung is backing it with seven years of guaranteed software updates, among the longest support windows on any Android phone, alongside its Galaxy AI feature set.
Battery, charging and a new privacy screen
The phone carries a 5,000mAh battery and supports 60W wired charging, with 25W available wirelessly, which Android Police described as the fastest charging speed Samsung has put in a Galaxy phone. Samsung also trimmed the device's weight slightly compared with past Ultra models, even though the 6.9-inch frame is still a two-handed phone for most people.
One feature is new to the lineup entirely. The S26 Ultra is the first Samsung phone with what the company calls Privacy Display, a toggleable mode that narrows the screen's viewing angle so people sitting next to you on a train or in a waiting room can't easily read what's on it.
T-Mobile's unlimited plans bundle in premium 5G data, streaming perks, international coverage and mobile hotspot allowances, which is the pitch for anyone weighing a plan switch against staying unlocked. But the math only works out if you actually want T-Mobile's network and were going to pay for one of its top-tier plans anyway, since the $1,200 credit is tied to the line, not the phone itself.
Carrier device promotions shift without much notice, and this one was live on T-Mobile's website as of Tuesday's report, ahead of the Black Friday stretch when rival offers from Verizon, AT&T and Samsung's own store typically multiply. Anyone comparing options has a few weeks before the holiday deals properly kick off to see whether a better unlocked or trade-in price turns up elsewhere.
DDFiled by The Deals Desk
Price drops and sales on tech worth buying, with the price, the retailer and the time it was reported. Prices move; every deal says when it was seen.
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