Samsung tests a paid Max subscription for Galaxy AI features
IA en un minuto newsroom · Editor: Jon Elgezabal
In 30 seconds
SammyGuru has seen a Samsung trial that would add a paid Max plan to Galaxy AI, with near-unlimited use and new features such as Gen Video and Bixby Action. Free users would face a cap and, once they reach it, could pay or buy credits. The price, deduced from a set of text strings, would be around $4.99 a month, and Samsung has not announced it yet.
Samsung has started testing a paid subscription for Galaxy AI, the set of artificial intelligence features on its Galaxy phones, with a plan called Max. The news was first reported by the specialist outlet SammyGuru, which got access to the trial, as reported by Europa Press. The company has not announced it, and for now it is not available to users.
With the Max plan, existing features could be used with hardly any restrictions. Anyone sticking with the free version would hit a usage cap and, on reaching it, would have to choose between subscribing or buying a credit pack to keep using the feature they need. The subscription would also add new features: Gen Video, which creates AI videos from the user's photos; Bixby Action, to automate tasks across different apps; and a Daily Briefing.
The price is not official. SammyGuru pulled it from text strings in the feature itself: around $4.99 a month or $47.99 a year. According to Digital Trends, those references sit in a Samsung app that has not yet been released, the Max plan would offer four times the free usage, and the trial runs through an early access program in which money spent would be refunded. The same app calls for an AI version that SammyGuru links to the upcoming Galaxy S27 series, although there is no list of compatible phones.
SamMobile, which has published its own report, describes three plan tiers (Starter, Plus and Pro) with limits that appear to be 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 credits, and says that every Galaxy AI feature available today will remain free.
Samsung introduced Galaxy AI with the Galaxy S24 in January 2024 and, as Android Police recalls, said at the time that those features would be free for only a year. In July 2025 it committed to not charging for the Galaxy AI features that come built into the phone, such as the Samsung Notes assistant and live translation.
Why it matters · analysis and opinion
Generating video or automating tasks takes a lot of computing power, and Samsung is looking for a way to charge for it without going back on what it promised. The model taking shape takes nothing away from those who do not pay, but it puts a ceiling on them: the basics stay free and heavy use becomes paid. Google and Apple already limit part of their AI features this way, a sign that artificial intelligence on a phone is tending to stop being included in the price of the handset and to become a separate service. Important questions remain: how much the free version will cover, which models will be compatible and what will happen to the Galaxy phones already in people's hands. Anyone thinking of changing phones for these new features would do well to wait until Samsung confirms them.
Source: Europa Press · Written with the help of AI: how we make the news
