Samsung is launching a hardware subscription plan like the one Apple canceled

CES 2025 might be the most important tech event in town right now, but more interesting things are about to happen soon. The Galaxy S25 Unpacked event has an official date, and rumors say Nintendo might launch the Switch 2 at some point in the coming weeks.

The former is of particular interest to Android users looking forward to one of the best flagships of the year. The Galaxy S25 series will feature three premium devices: the base Galaxy S25 model, the S25 Plus, and the S25 Ultra. On top of that, a fourth Galaxy S25 Slim phone could be unveiled at Unpacked and then launched later this year. 

Rumors say that Samsung will have to raise prices for at least one of the three main Galaxy S25 models, the Ultra. That’s not great news, but Samsung will offer buyers a way to offset that. You can already register your interest to preorder the device, which will get you free credit if you end up buying one of the phones.

But the biggest surprise concerning the Galaxy S25 series is something else that might make the price hike more bearable. Samsung is apparently ready to introduce a hardware subscription plan that will cover mobile devices.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve had on-and-off rumors for a few years that Apple planned to launch an iPhone subscription plan. The idea is that you pay a monthly fee for your iPhone, which you can trade in at any point for a comparable new iPhone model.

Apple reportedly abandoned those plans, but Samsung often tries to get ahead of its top rival when it learns of new things that are in development. There’s certainly a chance that Samsung was too far along in its race to beat Apple to the punch, so it’s going forward with the new idea even though Apple bailed on it.

According to ETNews, Samsung is ready to unveil an “AI Subscription Club” that will cover Galaxy smartphones. Other products will also be part of the hardware subscription plan, including the Ballie AI robot we saw at CES.

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