Samsung’s $1,300 phone might someday have fees for AI usage

Enlarge (credit: Samsung)

Samsung's big Galaxy S24 launch was yesterday, and to hear Samsung tell the story, the big highlight of the event was "Galaxy AI." Another view is that Galaxy AI is the usual bundle of baked-in Samsung features skinned on top of Android, but with generative AI being the hot new thing, Samsung went with AI-centric branding. Whatever value you want to place on Samsung's AI features, you might soon have to place an actual monetary value on them: Despite devices like the Galaxy S24 Ultra costing $1,300, Samsung might start charging for some of these AI phone features.

The fine print on Samsung's Galaxy S24 promotional page features 44 asterisks and footnotes, and tucked away in that pile of caveats is the line "Galaxy AI features will be provided for free until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices." That means Samsung reserves the right to charge for Galaxy AI after 2025.