Samsung Wants You to Stop Thinking of the Z Fold 8 as a Purchase and Start Thinking of It as a Subscription

Foldables have a pricing problem, and everyone in the industry knows it. Samsung’s answer for India isn’t a discount — it’s a completely different way of framing what “buying” a flagship even means.

The company has officially extended its Galaxy Forever ownership program to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, letting buyers spread the cost across 24 no-interest EMIs, bundle in Samsung Care+ protection at no extra charge, and walk away with up to 55% of their money back if they decide to trade in or return the device down the line. It’s less a sale and more an invitation to keep circulating through Samsung’s flagship lineup without ever fully committing to one.

Why This Isn’t Just Another EMI Scheme?

No-cost EMI on a phone isn’t new. What makes Galaxy Forever different is the exit ramp built into it. Starting from the 10th month of ownership, buyers can choose to upgrade to Samsung’s next flagship or simply hand the device back — no justification required, provided the phone still powers on, carries a verifiable IMEI, and hasn’t been tampered with or repaired by a third party.

The buyback percentage isn’t fixed; it scales down the longer you hold onto the phone. Return or upgrade between the 10th and 11th month, and you get 55% of the invoice value back. Wait until months 12 or 13, and it drops to 50%. Hold on longer, into the 14th-through-18th-month window, and it settles at 45%, before falling to 35% for anyone stretching things out to the 19th-through-25th-month mark. It’s a sliding scale that rewards early upgraders — which, not coincidentally, is exactly the customer Samsung wants cycling through new flagships every year or two.

What It Actually Costs?

Samsung has priced this down to the rupee. Under Galaxy Forever, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 works out to roughly ₹8,584 per month, while the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra comes in at about ₹9,417 per month, both spread across 24 months. That figure isn’t just the device cost split up — it bakes in a Galaxy Forever program fee of ₹25,999 on top of the device price, which is what covers the Samsung Care+ protection plan bundled into the deal.

And that protection isn’t a token add-on. It covers two years of accidental and liquid damage, with zero claim processing fees — normally a plan Fold buyers would have to purchase separately, given how expensive out-of-warranty foldable-screen repairs tend to run.

Who This Is Actually Built For?

Samsung isn’t hiding who it’s chasing with this. The program is explicitly aimed at younger buyers and self-described “serial upgraders” — the kind of customer who wants the newest folding screen every cycle but doesn’t want to eat the full depreciation hit of owning last year’s flagship outright. For that buyer, Galaxy Forever essentially turns a foldable phone into a recurring relationship with Samsung rather than a one-time purchase decision.

It’s worth being clear-eyed about the trade-off, though. You’re not saving money over paying outright — the program fee and buyback structure exist to make Samsung’s math work too. What you’re buying is flexibility: a guaranteed floor on resale value and permission to walk away without haggling on a trade-in desk. For someone who already knows they’ll want next year’s model, that flexibility has real value. For someone planning to keep the phone for three or four years, it’s probably not the better deal.

Part of a Bigger Pattern

This isn’t Samsung’s first swing at this idea, and it likely won’t be the last. Galaxy Forever originally launched for the Galaxy S26 Ultra and S26 Plus earlier this year with a similar structure — a 50% upfront discount against assured buyback and a 12-month no-cost EMI window. Extending the same logic to its most expensive foldables, at nearly double the EMI duration, suggests Samsung sees this less as a one-off promotion and more as a standing strategy for how it wants to sell flagship hardware in India going forward, especially as chip shortages keep pushing premium device prices upward.

The program is live now, available through Samsung.com and across more than 1,500 Samsung Experience Stores nationwide.

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