Now that CES 2025 has come and gone, the next big event in the tech world is Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event on January 22nd. Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S25 lineup at the show, including a Galaxy S25 Slim variant.
The ultra-thin phone might hit stores in just a few months, but that’s hopefully not the only surprise Samsung has prepared for fans. Rumors say Samsung will unveil its Android XR-based AI-infused smart glasses at the show. We certainly expect to see the Vision Pro rival, Project Moohan, unveiled officially. Samsung might also announce a new Galaxy Ring 2 model.
But Unpacked might also bring some unexpectedly bad news: Price hikes for the three (well, four) Galaxy S25 models, the show’s stars.
We saw warnings a few weeks ago that at least one of the three main Galaxy S25 versions could cost more than last year’s model. Now, a new report from Europe suggests price hikes might be in order for all three models, which will be available in stores by February.
Reports from Korea detailed in mid-December the two factors that might force Samsung to raise prices for the Galaxy S25 models. First, there was the political turmoil in Korea that impacted the dollar-won exchange. Then there’s the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the high-end chip that will power all Galaxy S25 models, that’s significantly more expensive than its predecessor.
The report singled out the Galaxy S25 Ultra as the likely model to get a higher price tag than the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
A month later, Italian blog SmartWorld says that a local store in Italy has already set up placeholder pages for the Galaxy S25 phones that will go on sale after Unpacked.
The store listed prices for all three Galaxy S25 versions and their respective memory options, indicating that price hikes will be in order. According to this information, the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra will cost at least €50 more than their predecessors.
While that might seem troubling, I’ll say there’s nothing official about these prices. That’s a point the Italian blog makes. Maybe it’s just placeholder information waiting to be edited once Unpacked drops. SmartWorld also says that well-known inside Roland Quandt said in December that the Galaxy S25 European prices would match last year’s models.
If the price hikes are real, they might not reflect Samsung’s plans worldwide. It’s unclear in which markets Samsung will raise prices for the Galaxy S25. After all, a €50 hike isn’t as big as expected. If it translates to a $50 price hike in the US, you can offset it by simply registering to preorder a Galaxy S25 flavor. Registration will give you $50 in Samsung credit.
On the other hand, European prices also factor in VAT. The actual price hike might be lower when you remove the tax.
I’ll also remind you that Samsung and its carrier partners will run plenty of promos during the preorder period to make the Galaxy S25 price more palatable. One already leaked: free Gemini Advanced access for up to a year. That’s a subscription that usually costs $20/month. It offers plenty of cloud storage in addition to Google’s best AI model.
Finally, a recent rumor says that Samsung wants to launch a hardware subscription plan soon for devices like the Galaxy S25. While it will be available only in certain markets initially, a hardware subscription plan might make the Galaxy S25 a lot easier on the wallet.
As for the Galaxy S25 Slim, the handset doesn’t have a predecessor, so we can’t predict how much it’ll cost. But I don’t expect it to be more affordable than the base Galaxy S25 model. The ultra-thin phone will still run on the same high-end Snapdragon chip as the rest of them.
