Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Samsung will soon let you rent its phones instead of buying them

A person holding the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The CES 2025 logo.
Read and watch our complete CES coverage here
Updated less than 58 seconds ago

Looking to buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 but don’t have the money to pay for it all upfront? Samsung may eventually allow you to rent out the upcoming model and other Samsung Galaxy phones instead of purchasing them right off the bat.

Rumors of the smartphone subscription service came out of CES 2025, where Samsung CEO and Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee said that the company plans to introduce the subscription service at this year’s Galaxy Unpacked event in two weeks, according to a report by ETNews. Jong-hee said that the service, dubbed the “AI Subscription Club,” will launch in February, two months after it began offering it to customers in South Korea.

Recommended Videos

The “AI” part of the name is a mistranslation, but the name is likely not final. The smartphone subscription service will allow customers to pay a subscription fee for any phone they want and try it out before they decide to pay the full amount. It’s unclear how much the monthly fees will be or if there will be subscription tiers similar to those of streaming services like Netflix and Disney+. However, the subscription service will apply to tablets as well.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Samsung’s hardware subscription program bears some resemblance to the one Apple had been attempting to develop alongside the Apple Pay group since 2022, making plans to launch it by the end of that year. The project then got delayed because of software issues and regulatory concerns and was ultimately canceled at the end of last year. Six months earlier, in June 2024, the company announced Apple Pay Later would be shutting down after it integrated third-party loan services into iOS 18. Google tried to offer a subscription service for Pixel phones called Google Pixel Pass, which also offered access to YouTube Premium and Google Play Pass, but it ended in 2023.

Cristina Alexander
Cristina Alexander is a gaming and mobile writer at Digital Trends. She blends fair coverage of games industry topics that…
Don’t buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. 4 reasons to wait for the Galaxy S26 Ultra
Samsung Galaxy S25 series closeup

Samsung’s latest Unpacked event has wrapped up, and with it, we’ve been introduced to the Galaxy S25 series. As expected, the lineup includes the standard Galaxy S25, the middle-tier S25 Plus, and the flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra. Packed with impressive hardware like the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, AI-driven features, and camera enhancements, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is undoubtedly a powerful device.
But is it worth upgrading to right now? Depending on your current phone, you might find these updates more incremental than groundbreaking. There are compelling reasons to consider holding off until next year’s Galaxy S26 Ultra. Let’s break down why waiting might be the smarter move.

A massive 200MP periscope telephoto camera

Read more
Everything Samsung announced at its Galaxy S25 event
Samsung Galaxy S25 series in front of Galaxy AI sign

Samsung’s glitzy Unpacked 2025 event gave a clear sign that moving forward, phones are entering their agentic era. AI is in the driving seat of mobile experiences, enhancing everything from camera capture to how we get app-based work done.

The headline of the event was, of course, the Galaxy S25 series smartphones. At the summit is the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the true showcase of Samsung’s imaging capabilities and hardware refinements. The entry-point Galaxy S25 also gets a crucial hardware upgrade to speed up generative AI tasks, while the SmartThings ecosystem is eyeing its biggest sensing overhaul yet.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Read more
The Galaxy S25 Ultra has given me hope about AI, but only for now
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

There’s a lot riding on the latest Galaxy AI features headlining the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, but after spending a short time with the phone I’m far more positive about it than I have been about mobile AI at all so far. It’s a good thing, as the rest of the Galaxy S25 Ultra isn’t exactly groundbreaking. However, it's going to take a while before we truly understand if Galaxy AI on the S25 series is as transformational as Samsung claims.
The more you use it

There’s something to explain about the Galaxy AI features before we go any further. I’m basing my positive interest on what I’ve been told it’ll do, rather than seeing it actually doing it in person. Normally this would be a cardinal sin, but as this is a hands-on and not a review, I feel it’s acceptable. The reason is, Galaxy AI’s personalized insights — the most intriguing aspect — needs time to get to know you, and unless you’ve used the phone for a period of time, it doesn’t work.

Read more