Samsung may soon be charging for Galaxy AI, potentially ending the uncertainty surrounding how long its artificial intelligence tools will remain free.
A new leak, courtesy of SammyGuru, reveals an interface for Galaxy AI Premium, a monthly plan that adds more AI capabilities. It appears Samsung is working on it, but existing features will likely be spared from the paywall.
According to the leak, customers will have to pay $4.99 a month or $47.99 annually to get access to the premium package.
New AI features might be worth the subscription
Samsung is apparently looking to reserve new features for subscribers, instead of charging users for continued access to existing Galaxy AI tools. These include Bixby Action, an AI agent that can automate tasks across different apps, Daily Briefing, and Gen Video, which can create AI videos from existing photos.
The leaked details also indicate that free access could have stricter usage caps, which means the difference between free and paid access is likely to be more subtle than it looks at first glance. Free users may have to buy credit packs after they run out, while premium subscribers could get up to four times the usage allowance, per the leak.
The existing tools, including Now Brief, Browsing Assist, Creative Studio, and AI-powered Samsung Keyboard features, are likely to remain free.
Samsung has a promise to keep
The latest developments are not shocking. The Korean tech giant had previously said Galaxy AI features would remain free through the end of 2025, leaving the door open to future charges. The company later said, however, it had no plans to roll out paid features.
Samsung has not yet confirmed pricing, feature lineup, or if the paid subscription is coming soon or when.
If the plan goes official, Galaxy owners won’t necessarily lose the AI tools they’ve been using already. But Samsung will have to convince customers that $5 a month is a worthwhile price to pay for its new features.
Samsung’s got a potentially bigger problem than subscription fatigue: some Galaxy owners aren’t sold on its AI tools being worth paying for in the first place. Comments in Reddit’s r/Android community indicate users don’t understand the need for another subscription when services such as Gemini and ChatGPT already provide more capable alternatives. One commenter even noted that some Galaxy S25 Ultra owners aren’t even aware of the AI features their phones have.
Others said they'd pay if Samsung could deliver a more unified, reliable experience. That puts the pressure on Samsung to prove that Galaxy AI Premium offers something genuinely useful, rather than just putting a price tag on features that many owners rarely touch.
It's said that the Galaxy S27 series could be the initial supported lineup, but it could come more broadly later.
