We’re a few weeks away from the official Galaxy S25 launch. Samsung is likely to announce the rumored January 22nd Unpacked event in the coming days.
But, like its predecessors, the Galaxy S25 is no longer a secret. We already know plenty of details about the upcoming flagship phones, including design choices and specs. We’re also aware of the bad news. Samsung might increase the Galaxy S25 price compared to the S24 series.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra might be impacted specifically. The depreciation of the won is impacting the price, as is Samsung’s deal with Qualcomm to provide the Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship chip. The processor will be more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in this year’s Samsung flagship.
Any price hikes will probably be offset by the preorder deals Samsung and carrier partners will bring forward after the Unpacked event. But there’s a new leak that suggests another deal that will make any price hikes more bearable. All Galaxy S25 phones will reportedly come with free Gemini Advanced access, Google’s premium AI subscription.
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Found by Android Authority (via CNET), the Galaxy S25 AI deal information comes from the latest Google app beta (v15.52.37).
According to an app teardown, Samsung partnered with Google to offer Galaxy S25 buyers complimentary free access to Gemini, depending on the smartphone variant they purchase.
The Galaxy S25 might get three months of Gemini Advanced for free, the Galaxy S25 Plus for six months, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra a full year of Google’s premium AI.
Gemini Advanced costs $20/month and comes with Google Cloud premium access. If the deal is correct, users will save between $60 and $240 on Gemini AI, depending on which phone they purchase.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra will offer the best savings, which makes sense. This is the likeliest model of the three to get a price hike in certain markets.
Considering the partnership between Samsung and Google, which will only grow with the introduction of Project Moohan, Samsung smart glasses, and the Android XR platform, the offer makes plenty of sense. All these devices will have Gemini at the core.
Also, Google offered Pixel 9 buyers a similar Gemini Advanced deal.
Remember that Samsung is selling its phones as AI devices. Galaxy AI will probably get several notable upgrades. That Snapdragon 8 Elite chip won’t just make the phones faster and improve battery life; it’ll also support more on-device AI processing. The free Gemini AI access would be just another perk.
Galaxy S25 buyers who don’t care about AI or those who don’t want Gemini Advanced might think little of the offer. But, again, remember that Gemini Advanced comes bundled with Google’s top cloud storage tier. You get 2TB of Google One storage for free for the duration of the promo, even if you won’t use any Gemini Advanced AI capabilities.
The post Galaxy S25 price hike won’t matter if you get Gemini AI free appeared first on BGR.
