Photo: Samsung
Galaxy AI has arrived, as Samsung has announced with much fanfare, but the company omitted a small detail from its presentation earlier this week: it might not be free forever. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, S24 Plus, and S24 all boast new AI features—from translating phone conversations to removing objects from photos. They'll also be available on many older phones. However, Android Central noticed the fine print on Samsung's site, suggesting they might charge for them in the future. And that might be hard to justify.
The footnote at the bottom of the Galaxy S24 Ultra product page is ambiguous but implies that Samsung could start charging later. It reads: "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."
For now, the situation is stable, but many of the S24's Galaxy AI features rely on Google Cloud, so either company—or both!—could eventually put them behind a paywall. This move wouldn't be surprising given the cost of offering these features and running the large AI models that enable them.
Business Insider reports that manufacturers might adopt subscription models to cover these ongoing expenses since they can't offset them with advertising as Google does with search. It could also change how we think about buying devices. They don't come with extra charges outside of adding protection or cloud storage.
But why would they wait until 2025? The Korea Herald quoted some remarks from Samsung's head of mobile devices, TM Roh, who said that charging for AI services could be an option when they become more sophisticated—and more expensive to run.
AI, as it has appeared on phones so far, isn't remarkable enough to warrant the additional cost. These features can take time to process, but, more importantly, they haven't been that useful. If Samsung wants to charge for AI options in the future, the opportunity is there—they’ll have to show that they’re worth the price.