The Galaxy S24 has some futuristic AI skills, but Samsung is already planting seeds to charge users down the road.
Samsung made a big splash this week with the unveiling of its new Galaxy S24 lineup, touting the phones’ ample AI capabilities like real-time translation and object removal in photos. However, the company conveniently left out one key detail – these futuristic features may eventually come at a cost to consumers.
As spotted by Android Central, the fine print on Samsung’s website indicates the AI features will be free until the end of 2025 for supported Galaxy devices. After that, Samsung leaves the door open to start charging users, stating “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.”
While Samsung remained vague about potential fees, the company’s VP of mobile, Drew Blackard, assured The Verge that “We are committed to making Galaxy AI features available to as many of our users as possible. We will not be considering any changes to that direction before the end of 2025.”
So what’s with the ambiguous legal jargon? Robust AI features like real-time translation isn’t cheap, considering the massive computing power required behind the scenes. Samsung may look to subscription models in the future to offset these costs.
This could represent a shift in how we think about buying phones. Currently, most manufacturers don’t charge extra monthly fees beyond the purchase price, unless you opt for additional services like extended warranty or cloud storage. But Samsung’s comments suggest that once AI features become more advanced (and expensive to run), the company may tack on supplementary charges to your bills.
For now, consumers can rest easy knowing Samsung’s slick new AI tools come free with the S24 family of devices. But the company is clearly laying the groundwork to make users pay for more advanced features when the time is right.
Source:indianexpress.com