1 min readSamsung has quietly changed the terms around the AI features on its smartphones.
Up until recently, the company's latest Galaxy smartphones including the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy S25 Edge came with the caveat that "Galaxy AI features" would only be provided for free until the end of 2025.
That phrasing has now changed. As per the Samsung Australia website, "fees may apply to certain AI Features at the end of 2025."
This shift in the small print comes after several months after a Samsung spokesperson told Reviews.org that the company had no plans to charge for default Galaxy AI features going forward. At that time, an exact list or definition of specifically what features fell into that category was not provided.
However, the list of AI features that come with Samsung's smartphones has grown significantly over the past few years to encompass everything from real-time translation to transcription to generative image editing.
Some of these tasks are handled by on-device AI processing. Others require a cloud-based solution. It seems most likely that those in the latter camp are the features that Samsung may look to charge for in the future. We'll have to wait and see what that looks like and how much the company plans to charge for bells and whistles that customers who purchased the device could previously access for free.
Even if these key details are yet to be determined, the move remains a noteworthy shift on the part of Samsung and one that sets a troubling precedent for the rest of the mobile market.
Buying a Samsung smartphone now might mean you end up paying more later down the line. Whether that becomes the new normal, like paying for cloud storage was, or the next case study for companies that overreach in pursuit of subscription revenue remains to be seen.
