The Samsung Galaxy S24 / Ultra

[Technerd108]

I’m taking it as a pinch of salt, but I’ve read on Twitter that Samsung are going to “keep AI features free until 2025“ after that they will be looking to charge with a subscription model. Surely this can’t be true, Google don‘t charge for the same things.

If that’s the case and they mention it at the keynote, i will definitely be put off.

I completely agree. However, it is a hardware makers dream to have a constant revenue stream from charging for AI features. I bet every OEM would salivate at the chance to put software features behind a paywall BUT NO ONE has done such a thing IN the OS before. I think it would fail miserably.

The way they are trying to introduce it seems stealthy. Give it to them free and get them dependent on the service and then ask for a fee at a certain point. It will piss people off but if not too costly and they add more features then a lot of people would probably go along. I don't know. Having to pay for features in your OS seems really bad for consumers. It could become a nightmare landscape where basic OS features are locked until you pay a monthly service. That is where this will go and I am NOT signing up.

If Samsung ever tries to add a paywall to certain features in a phone I paid a lot of money for I will stop buying Samsung devices over night and sell off everything I own. It might be a gradual process but I would do it. Specially if I can get similar features in a Pixel why would I pay for it in Samsung?

Let's just hope Samsung is smart enough to nix the bean counter's idea. These kind of ideas that eventually get implemented are why I never get too invested in one platform or OEM. I never want to become hostage to software changes out of my control. Usually I have a choice if I don't like what one company does unless of course they all adopt the same strategy at the same time. Then just keep what you got as long as possible I guess.

 

[jamezr]

I’m taking it as a pinch of salt, but I’ve read on Twitter that Samsung are going to “keep AI features free until 2025“ after that they will be looking to charge with a subscription model. Surely this can’t be true, Google don‘t charge for the same things.

If that’s the case and they mention it at the keynote, i will definitely be put off.

i am with you. But will wait and see and then see what exactly are they talking about as far as AI features. I want to see what and how much. But overall i am not a fan of paying for features....

 

[Dave245]

I completely agree. However, it is a hardware makers dream to have a constant revenue stream from charging for AI features. I bet every OEM would salivate at the chance to put software features behind a paywall BUT NO ONE has done such a thing IN the OS before. I think it would fail miserably.

The way they are trying to introduce it seems stealthy. Give it to them free and get them dependent on the service and then ask for a fee at a certain point. It will piss people off but if not too costly and they add more features then a lot of people would probably go along. I don't know. Having to pay for features in your OS seems really bad for consumers. It could become a nightmare landscape where basic OS features are locked until you pay a monthly service. That is where this will go and I am NOT signing up.

If Samsung ever tries to add a paywall to certain features in a phone I paid a lot of money for I will stop buying Samsung devices over night and sell off everything I own. It might be a gradual process but I would do it. Specially if I can get similar features in a Pixel why would I pay for it in Samsung?

Let's just hope Samsung is smart enough to nix the bean counter's idea. These kind of ideas that eventually get implemented are why I never get too invested in one platform or OEM. I never want to become hostage to software changes out of my control. Usually I have a choice if I don't like what one company does unless of course they all adopt the same strategy at the same time. Then just keep what you got as long as possible I guess.

i am with you. But will wait and see and then see what exactly are they talking about as far as AI features. I want to see what and how much. But overall i am not a fan of paying for features....

Yea I think it's very sucky if Samsung do that. We will have to wait and see what they are thinking, it might just be a rumour that turns out not to be true (let's hope) or it might turn into something. I personally would be put off, I'm not paying over a thousand pounds for a phone to then be told I have to pay a monthly subscription to access some of it's features. Granted there are cloud based subscriptions already (iCloud and Google One for example), but they are not a part of the phones experience (ie features like magic eraser and so on).

I hope Samsung don't do this, it will certainly put me off buying the S24 Ultra.

 

[Ludatyk]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1746195742304116800

I thought this was interesting... seems like OneUI 6.1 will be much improved in terms of performance.

 

[skriefal]

I’m taking it as a pinch of salt, but I’ve read on Twitter that Samsung are going to “keep AI features free until 2025“ after that they will be looking to charge with a subscription model. Surely this can’t be true, Google don‘t charge for the same things.

If that’s the case and they mention it at the keynote, i will definitely be put off.

If it works for Samsung then it's highly likely that Google and others will introduce their own subscription models. With a free option - the "carrot" option - with usage limits. This is probably inevitable with cloud-based services that have continued costs to the company.

 

[Dave245]

If it works for Samsung then it's highly likely that Google and others will introduce their own subscription models. With a free option - the "carrot" option - with usage limits. This is probably inevitable with cloud-based services that have continued costs to the company.

Personally I wouldn’t pay for it no matter who does it. I think that if you buy the phone you should have access to all its features.
We will need to see what happens on Wednesday, let’s hope Samsung don’t go down that route.

 

[skriefal]

I also have no interest in paying for it. But in the end we may have no choice - if we want to use those features. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[edubfromktown]

Not going to pay for anything resembling BWM in-auto "value added $ervice$".

I've never used personal digital assistants on mobile phones or similar privacy invading services at home.

 

[Sensamic]

Kind of "surprised" to see this payment subscription for Galaxy AI. It feels like nowadays we have to pay more and more for EVERYTHING. I can't blame Samsung, though, since ChatGPT 4 is paid, if you want more than just 5GB iCloud storage you have to pay, Office 365... etc etc

It sucks, but people end up paying for it. If everyone just DIDN'T pay for it (like, lets say, 1.500€ for a phone, be it iPhone 15 PM or S24 Ultra), then probably these companies wouldn't do this, but they see people paying more than 1.000 bucks for a phone, so they sure are convinced they can get a lot of people to pay for anything, like AI features.

On the other hand, I hope that rumor of 7 years of OS updates is true and applies also to the S23. Makes sense to do it, since then you can convince more people to pay for Galaxy AI if they keep longer their phones.

 

[Dave245]

Kind of "surprised" to see this payment subscription for Galaxy AI. It feels like nowadays we have to pay more and more for EVERYTHING. I can't blame Samsung, though, since ChatGPT 4 is paid, if you want more than just 5GB iCloud storage you have to pay, Office 365... etc etc

It sucks, but people end up paying for it. If everyone just DIDN'T pay for it (like, lets say, 1.500€ for a phone, be it iPhone 15 PM or S24 Ultra), then probably these companies wouldn't do this, but they see people paying more than 1.000 bucks for a phone, so they sure are convinced they can get a lot of people to pay for anything, like AI features.

On the other hand, I hope that rumor of 7 years of OS updates is true and applies also to the S23. Makes sense to do it, since then you can convince more people to pay for Galaxy AI if they keep longer their phones.

I do wonder which feature will be paid tho. Google has magic eraser and a few others, so far they haven’t hidden them behind a subscription, altho that could change. Maybe Samsung will introduce a cloud subscription like Google one, that I could understand more. For example if I want to use Magic Eraser on my iPhone I have to use my Google One account/subscription.

 

[Technerd108]

Kind of "surprised" to see this payment subscription for Galaxy AI. It feels like nowadays we have to pay more and more for EVERYTHING. I can't blame Samsung, though, since ChatGPT 4 is paid, if you want more than just 5GB iCloud storage you have to pay, Office 365... etc etc

It sucks, but people end up paying for it. If everyone just DIDN'T pay for it (like, lets say, 1.500€ for a phone, be it iPhone 15 PM or S24 Ultra), then probably these companies wouldn't do this, but they see people paying more than 1.000 bucks for a phone, so they sure are convinced they can get a lot of people to pay for anything, like AI features.

On the other hand, I hope that rumor of 7 years of OS updates is true and applies also to the S23. Makes sense to do it, since then you can convince more people to pay for Galaxy AI if they keep longer their phones.

I think the difference in the things you talked about that require a subscription are not part of the OS. The fundamental difference is that Samsung wants to charge you for something you already paid for. When you buy the device the cost of software is included in the price. That is why Samsung has to charge more than Chinese OEM's with the same hardware because the cost of long term software support that many times most Chinese OEMS pretty much ignore. You just buy a new phone if you want the latest Android.

So the idea that Samsung would charge you for new features in the OS whether they are AI and cost Samsung more or not is crazy. We already paid for the developers and software support buy paying the cost of the device.

Now what Samsung is proposing is that this one set of features will be locked unless you pay. But I already paid? Why do I need to pay again? Then of course the bigger question is if you start charging for feature sets in the OS where will it end? How much of the OS will be locked under a paywall? The entire idea is really short sighted and foolish. If Samsung does this and is successful than everyone else will do it and we will start having to pay just to use our devices plus pay to get them. I don't want to live in that world.

 

[Sensamic]

I think the difference in the things you talked about that require a subscription are not part of the OS. The fundamental difference is that Samsung wants to charge you for something you already paid for. When you buy the device the cost of software is included in the price. That is why Samsung has to charge more than Chinese OEM's with the same hardware because the cost of long term software support that many times most Chinese OEMS pretty much ignore. You just buy a new phone if you want the latest Android.

So the idea that Samsung would charge you for new features in the OS whether they are AI and cost Samsung more or not is crazy. We already paid for the developers and software support buy paying the cost of the device.

Now what Samsung is proposing is that this one set of features will be locked unless you pay. But I already paid? Why do I need to pay again? Then of course the bigger question is if you start charging for feature sets in the OS where will it end? How much of the OS will be locked under a paywall? The entire idea is really short sighted and foolish. If Samsung does this and is successful than everyone else will do it and we will start having to pay just to use our devices plus pay to get them. I don't want to live in that world.

Didn't Apple do exactly this with the satellite SOS feature in iPhone 14? They announced it was free for some time and then it would be paid.

 

[B_mark_R]

I think the difference in the things you talked about that require a subscription are not part of the OS. The fundamental difference is that Samsung wants to charge you for something you already paid for. When you buy the device the cost of software is included in the price. That is why Samsung has to charge more than Chinese OEM's with the same hardware because the cost of long term software support that many times most Chinese OEMS pretty much ignore. You just buy a new phone if you want the latest Android.

So the idea that Samsung would charge you for new features in the OS whether they are AI and cost Samsung more or not is crazy. We already paid for the developers and software support buy paying the cost of the device.

Now what Samsung is proposing is that this one set of features will be locked unless you pay. But I already paid? Why do I need to pay again? Then of course the bigger question is if you start charging for feature sets in the OS where will it end? How much of the OS will be locked under a paywall? The entire idea is really short sighted and foolish. If Samsung does this and is successful than everyone else will do it and we will start having to pay just to use our devices plus pay to get them. I don't want to live in that world.

You didnt already pay for the feature. They will announce that is requires a subscription of $X, but will let you use it free for 1 year. Kinda like what auto manufacturers do with their navigation stuff.

 

[Technerd108]

You didnt already pay for the feature. They will announce that is requires a subscription of $X, but will let you use it free for 1 year. Kinda like what auto manufacturers do with their navigation stuff.

I get how they are going to do it. But fundamentally anything in the OS is something we have paid for. Do you think the software development done by Samsung on all of their Android devices around the world is free? Of course not.

This is also another reason why different regions get charged different prices because some are more development intensive. The cost of the device is not just hardware, price of manufacturing and marketing and done. No, you have an entire software development team who works on features for new iterations of OneUI.

Also I think charging for satellite phone makes a lot more sense. There is a separate infrastructure cost, software cost and service cost that Apple is paying now. So it makes sense at some point Apple passes the cost to consumers.

Contrast that with AI software that your software development team is already working on for OneUI. It will not cost them anything extra beyond development of the AI itself but that is an investment in their own ecosystem that is generally born by the company in R&D costs. SO why are we paying for Samsung R&D costs?? It just makes no sense.

There NEVER should be ANY subscription based model for use of features within an operating system such as integrated AI in OneUI.

Again, please don't confuse this with cloud storage, and a ton of other subscription add ons. They are not a working part of the Operating system that you might use every day. They are syncing and backing up data and other services. You don't need them to use all the features of your phone. Of course the AI features being optional might not be needed but might hinder your experience of a phone you paid in full for.

I really think if enough people push back if and when Samsung tries to monetize AI features they will quickly reverse course.

I mean, if they don't try and see if people will pay then they will never know. If they try and it works then they cash in and if it doesn't they reverse course and move on, give people a bunch of free software stuff and everyone will forget. There is no downside to trying.

This is why I am so vocal in pushback. I am in the Members app forum a lot so I will certainly put some feedback there if they ever do it. They seem to consider reasonable feedback from forum members there. So if a bunch of us on here went on there and voiced our opinion it could help change things.

 

[Dave245]

well after all the speculation, rumours and leaks, Samsungs unpacked event is tomorrow. What is everyone looking forward to and what are you hoping for?

Personally I want great battery life (like S23 Ultra), camera improvements and the AI features to not be put behind a paywall.

 

[jamezr]

well after all the speculation, rumours and leaks, Samsungs unpacked event is tomorrow. What is everyone looking forward to and what are you hoping for?

Personally I want great battery life (like S23 Ultra), camera improvements and the AI features to not be put behind a paywall.

Same...i am looking forward to the flat display, camera improvements, AI features. Hoping for facial recognition enhancements. Hoping for a great trade in for my S23 Ultra

 

[Ludatyk]

well after all the speculation, rumours and leaks, Samsungs unpacked event is tomorrow. What is everyone looking forward to and what are you hoping for?

Personally I want great battery life (like S23 Ultra), camera improvements and the AI features to not be put behind a paywall.

Don't plan on buying the S24 series, but I'm looking forward to the thoughts of the tech world.

But I do plan on buying the Fold 6 and the event will serve as what to expect for it with the new Snapdragon. I'm just hoping the event isn't so heavy on AI features... would like to see some DeX presence and more S-Pen features (maybe a redesign S-Pen Pro).

 

[Tulani]

Don't plan on buying the S24 series, but I'm looking forward to the thoughts of the tech world.

But I do plan on buying the Fold 6 and the event will serve as what to expect for it with the new Snapdragon. I'm just hoping the event isn't so heavy on AI features... would like to see some DeX presence and more S-Pen features (maybe a redesign S-Pen Pro).

I was about to ask those who are buying the S24 if they will have interest in the Fold 6 as well.

Having nearly bought the Fold 5 last year I think we are now in the same boat waiting for the 6.

 

[Dave245]

Same...i am looking forward to the flat display, camera improvements, AI features. Hoping for facial recognition enhancements. Hoping for a great trade in for my S23 Ultra

I sold my S23 Ultra last year so I have nothing to trade in except for my mums very old first gen iPhone SE, which I doubt Samsung will want 😂

That’s why Samsung need to wow me a bit, I’ll be paying full price (unless there’s a discount on my dad’s defence military discount card).

 

[Dave245]

Don't plan on buying the S24 series, but I'm looking forward to the thoughts of the tech world.

But I do plan on buying the Fold 6 and the event will serve as what to expect for it with the new Snapdragon. I'm just hoping the event isn't so heavy on AI features... would like to see some DeX presence and more S-Pen features (maybe a redesign S-Pen Pro).

For me I’m not that interested in foldables. They are bulky, the spen is not inserted in the phone, but most of all I’d be very worried about the crease and the glass breaking after opening it so many times.

 

[robvalentine]

It's very unlikely that I will buy a s24 series, as s24+ is likely to be exynos in UK, and the ultra is too bulky for me and I'll wait until there's feedback about it, however, I banned myself from buying tech in 2024 unless something breaks. Hopefully any AI camera features will trickle down to the s23 series.

 

[Ludatyk]

I was about to ask those who are buying the S24 if they will have interest in the Fold 6 as well.

Having nearly bought the Fold 5 last year I think we are now in the same boat waiting for the 6.

No shade to the S24 series (particularly the S24U), I’m sure they are going to be some solid and incredible devices. But I believe this year Samsung is going to really prioritize the Fold 6.

Since the competition has gotten the best of Samsung, OnePlus and Google offering are really good. So, I’d expect Samsung do much better with the Fold 6.

For me I’m not that interested in foldables. They are bulky, the spen is not inserted in the phone, but most of all I’d be very worried about the crease and the glass breaking after opening it so many times.

To each their own.

Bulky? Some foldables are about the same width as slab phones… Pixel Fold is unbelievable thin for a foldable. And the crease isn’t as bad as the public makes it out to be, but Fold 4 has been tested to withstand roughly 200,000 folds.

OnePlus has claimed their foldable can withstand 400,000 folds.

 

[Dave245]

No shade to the S24 series (particularly the S24U), I’m sure they are going to be some solid and incredible devices. But I believe this year Samsung is going to really prioritize the Fold 6.

Since the competition has gotten the best of Samsung, OnePlus and Google offering are really good. So, I’d expect Samsung do much better with the Fold 6.


To each their own.

Bulky? Some foldables are about the same width as slab phones… Pixel Fold is unbelievable thin for a foldable. And the crease isn’t as bad as the public makes it out to be, but Fold 4 has been tested to withstand roughly 200,000 folds.

OnePlus has claimed their foldable can withstand 400,000 folds.

The pixel fold does look good ngl, but the reason I like Samsung is because of their SPen. Foladables just haven’t taken my eye, at least at the moment.

I will be deciding between the Pixel 8 Pro and the S24 Ultra after tomorrow’s event. But already what gets vote is the SPen and it being built into the phone.

 

[edubfromktown]

Pixel 8 Pro was no go vs S23+ 256 GB for me.

I'm sure 23 Ultra is even better but just too square/bulky for me (even if the new one has a flat display).

If 24+ with trade-in on my 23+ and the extra $50 comes in under $100 or so, I'll do it to get 12 GB of RAM vs 8 and maybe a few minor added features of 24+ vs 23+.

 

[Dave245]

Pixel 8 Pro was no go vs S23+ 256 GB for me.

I'm sure 23 Ultra is even better but just too square/bulky for me (even if the new one has a flat display).

If 24+ with trade-in on my 23+ and the extra $50 comes in under $100 or so, I'll do it to get 12 GB of RAM vs 8 and maybe a few minor added features of 24+ vs 23+.

I like the look of the Pixel 8 Pro, the AI features would be useful especially since I now have Google One. If Samsung are implementing the same type of features into the S24 Ultra and they don't put them behind a paywall, I may be tempted to get the S24 Ultra. I personally like the boxy design of the Galaxy Ultra range, I also love the SPen and the fact that it's inside the phone.

I'm interested to see what camera improvements Samsung have made since the S23 Ultra, that was a great camera. If they have improved the 200mp and the quality of the 100X zoom then I will be happy. Also battery life needs to be the same as the S23 Ultra or even better.