Please Samsung follow Apple’s lead and reinstate phone subscriptions.
Please Samsung follow Apple’s lead and reinstate phone subscriptions.
We discovered Apple is planning a new, subscription-based sales model. According to reports, the plan will include hardware such as iPhones and iPads, as well as insurance and access to subscription services such as Apple Music, all for one low monthly fee. We don’t really have an equivalent option in Android land. Sure, there’s Google’s Pixel Pass, but that’s more of a payment plan — you pay for two years, and then you own the phone. Samsung briefly offered a program called Samsung Access that was more in line with what Apple was planning, but the program is no longer available. I believe that now would be an excellent time for Samsung to bring it back.
Samsung Access, which began at $37 per month, included a Samsung phone, warranty coverage, a terabyte of cloud storage via Microsoft OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 Personal access. After subscribing for at least three months, customers could return their leased device and walk away fee-free, and Access offered the option to trade up to a new device every nine months. The program’s landing page is still available, but it only mentions the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy Note20, and there’s no way to subscribe — the few “SUBSCRIBE” links on the page lead to error messages, if they lead anywhere at all.
Please Samsung follow Apple’s lead and reinstate phone subscriptions.
Given Apple’s subscription plans, this year would be an ideal time for Samsung to resurrect Access, or something similar. The Samsung Mobile Upgrade Program is available in some countries, but it only includes hardware. To a certain type of customer, an all-in-one hardware and software bundle subscription is a very appealing proposition.
Of course, there is the issue of what services Samsung could include in such a bundle. While Samsung Care+ is a given, productivity apps lack the mass appeal of music streaming or fitness subscriptions — both of which will reportedly be included in Apple’s future subscription bundle in the form of Apple Music and Apple Fitness+.
Because of Samsung’s close relationship with Microsoft, I envision a bundle that includes a Samsung device and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate — it could even include an Xbox controller and phone mount to entice subscribers to try Xbox Cloud Gaming. Deals with other third parties, such as Spotify, are not unheard of: Galaxy phones already include a three-month trial of Spotify Premium, and I have to believe that a bundle that included a leased Samsung phone and a subscription to Premium at a discount would appeal to a large number of people.
Please Samsung follow Apple’s lead and reinstate phone subscriptions.
The reported Apple plan also includes leasing options for other Apple hardware, such as the iPad and Apple Watch, and Samsung is currently the only Android manufacturer that could compete in that space.
Google doesn’t have any tablets or smartwatches that it could include in Pixel Pass (yet), but Samsung makes some of the best Android tablets money can buy, and its Watch4 series includes our two favorite smartwatches of 2021.
Right now, Pixel Pass is the closest thing we have to Apple’s rumored subscription model. And it’s a good option for a small subset of Android users: if you plan on keeping a Pixel 6 for two years and already subscribe to the services included in the bundle, it’s a no-brainer.
However, in the minds of many American smartphone buyers, Android is synonymous with Samsung. I’m hoping the company brings back some kind of subscription-based hardware/software bundle — it’s the only one on our side of the aisle that could pull it off.
Please Samsung follow Apple’s lead and reinstate phone subscriptions.