Shop APK teardown hints at new ‘Samsung Flex’ subscription service

Samsung might be planning on launching a new subscription service for customers called Samsung Flex. The moniker was found in a couple of strings following an XDA-Developers teardown of the latest Shop app. One string mentions a monthly price indicating that this is a subscription service, while another mentions ‘Premium Care support’ as well as ‘early upgrades.’Samsung Flex could combine the benefits of Premium Care and Upgrade programsThe APK teardown, or more specifically, the bits of code found within the app, leave a lot of room for interpretation. We know this alleged new service should be called Samsung Flex, and the code is quite obviously hinting at a monthly subscription fee, but it’s unclear exactly how it would work and what benefits it could provide to customers.Presumably, Samsung Flex could be a variation of both the Premium Care and Upgrade programs combined. Customers would be able to sign up for a monthly subscription service with the possibility of canceling at any time, and they would benefit from Premium Care as well as yearly device upgrades. The ‘early upgrades’ part is a bit more confusing than the rest, as it seems to suggest that Samsung Flex customers might be able to upgrade to newer hardware ahead of non-Flex customers.

Perhaps the choice of words isn’t exactly accurate and this refers to early software updates rather than hardware upgrades. Then again, paying a subscription for the privilege of getting earlier software updates could raise questions as to why Samsung isn’t treating every customer equally. It might benefit some people while turning off others, especially given the increasing number of subscription services one has to keep track of in this age.All of this is just speculation right now, and keep in mind that bits of code found inside official applications after APK teardowns aren’t always put to use by OEMs and developers. At the very least, the strings confirm that Samsung is entertaining the idea of creating this mysterious Flex program, but as of this writing, there’s no guarantee of how it would work or even if it will be launched at all. But assuming that it will become a real thing, what benefits would you expect from a monthly subscription to a new Samsung service aimed exclusively at customers? Leave a comment below.