Retailers are still offering up to $200 in credit, while carriers will let you trade in older devices for free upgrades.

If you own a recent Samsung flagship, like the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Z Fold 5, or the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the company will give you $900 in instant trade-in credit against it. Add in the double storage offer, where you can get the 512GB variant of the S25 Ultra for the same price as the 256GB model, and you are looking at a savings of $1,020.

We’re now keeping our phones longer between upgrades, which is why the guaranteed minimum support periods are extending across the board. It is clear that this update decision from Samsung will affect millions of users, and while three-monthly updates is better than no updates, it doesn’t help when there’s an urgent fix mid-cycle.