What if your next Samsung no longer belongs to you ?

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Could Samsung succeed where its competitors have failed?? According to an article from The Verge, which relays a publication from the Korean media ET News, the Korean giant is preparing to launch a subscription that would allow users to use their smartphones without buying them. According to this Korean media, this was revealed by Han Jong-hee, vice president of Samsung Electronics, during the CES in Las Vegas.

Specifically, smartphones and tablets would be included in the manufacturer’s “AI Subscription Club” offering, starting next month. This is a subscription launched by Samsung in Korea, but it only applies to its AI-powered home appliances. Unfortunately, it is not known whether the manufacturer intends to extend this program to other countries, such as those in the EU. But it is possible that we will know more about this new service in a few weeks.

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Other brands have backtracked

In any case, Samsung will not be the first brand to offer a subscription to use a smartphone, as an alternative to purchasing it. In 2021, Google launched its Pixel Pass subscription in the United States. Offered at $45, it allowed access to various paid Google services and to use a Pixel smartphone. HMD, the company that markets Nokia smartphones, also launched a Circular subscription in 2022. And the same year, Fairphone presented a similar subscription system. But today, these three services no longer exist.

Fairphone ended its subscription in 2024, indicating that the number of subscribers had not increased quickly enough. “Our research showed that people were five times more likely to buy a Fairphone than to lease one,”, the brand explained in its announcement. Otherwise, rumors have also mentioned a project by Apple to launch a subscription for the iPhone. But, according to an article published by journalist Mark Gurman (Bloomberg) in December, this project would have been abandoned.

• Samsung would soon offer smartphones via a subscription
• Specifically, Galaxy smartphones and tablets would be added to a subscription already offered by Samsung in Korea, to use its connected household appliances
• For the moment, it is not certain that this subscription will arrive in Europe, but it would not be the first time that a smartphone brand offers a subscription
• However, HMD, Fairphone and Google have already ended their subscription programs
• In addition, Apple would have had a similar project (which would have been abandoned)

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