Rumored Galaxy Upgrade Program scheduled for S7 launch

A new report out of South Korea claims that Samsung is planning to launch a Galaxy upgrade program alongside the Galaxy S7 launch in March. The program would be very similar to Apple’s current upgrade program, whereby a new phone can be rented instead of bought, and upgraded once per year.

The story comes from South Korea’s Electronic Times and is pretty light on details, including how competitive Samsung’s monthly payments would be compared to Apple’s. If we look to Apple’s iPhone upgrade program for inspiration, this report from Fortune shows that Apple’s program costs about the same as buying the phone outright, and both options are much more expensive than a standard two-year contract.

The resale value on a second-hand iPhone is, naturally enough, much higher than on a used Galaxy device. So while owning your iPhone after a couple of years gives you options on the resale market, a two year old Galaxy is worth much less, making the upgrade program that much more enticing, but only if it is competitively priced.

Either way, we’ll soon find out when the Galaxy S7 is launched around MWC 2016. For comparison’s sake, the iPhone 6s is available starting at $32.41/month and the iPhone 6s Plus at $36.58/month. Both of these plans are device-only, requiring you to source your own carrier service on top. The Galaxy upgrade program is reported to launch in South Korea with a US launch to follow.

Would you use a Samsung upgrade program? How much do you think is fair per month?