AI is the big selling point of Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 series, but the new, rather good suite of Galaxy AI features may eventually come with a cost, the company has confirmed.
In a footnote on Samsung’s online listings for the Galaxy S24, S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra, the company briefly notes that Galaxy AI features are only free for about two years. The footnote was highlighted on Twitter/X by @AdamJMatlock.
Samsung says:
Galaxy AI features will be provided for free until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices. Different terms may apply for AI features provided by third parties.
There’s no word on how much these features might cost or if all features would require a subscription. Notably, most of Samsung’s AI suite runs through the cloud. The translation features and some others work fully on-device, but some of the more impressive demos, like Generative Edit and transcription run through the cloud (off of Google’s Gemini models).
This detail leaked prior to Samsung’s announcement, and in a poll we ran, over 70% of 9to5Google readers said they’d never pay extra for AI features on their phone.
Samsung’s lack of clarity around this, however, feels reminiscent of a service that Google said would be paid as well, but still operates for free. When Google launched the Nest Hub (2nd Generation)’s Sleep Sensing feature, it said that it would require a subscription at a later date, but a few years later, no such subscription exists.
Top comment by Arun Topez
So basically offer the service 'temporarily' free to get everyone's data to feed the AI learning, then slap a price tag on it just like the competitors are doing (either that or the 'freemium' model), so that only people who have money get to interact with it and gain the benefits.
We’ll update this article as Samsung offers more clarity on the matter.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is available for pre-order now, starting at $799. Pre-orders come with doubled storage, boosted trade-ins up to $750, and bonus credit up to $150.
You can get an additional $50 off your purchase on Samsung.com using our exclusive links above.
More on Samsung:
- Samsung will let you try out the Galaxy S24’s AI features in person starting next week
- Exynos returns to Galaxy S24 as Samsung ditches Snapdragon-only after just one year
- Hands-on: The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s titanium is good, but the flat display is all that matters
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