There is no need to pay for popular AI tools if you’re savvy enough. PayPal and Venmo recently teamed up to give away a year’s free Pro subscription to Perplexity AI, while Samsung provided the exact same offer to millions of its phone and tablet owners. Now, the Korean company is targeting students with a free 12-month subscription to Google AI Pro, worth £227 ($304).
This story was updated on September 29th with new deal details. Update below.
The offer is bundled with the new Galaxy Tab S11 and Tab S11 Ultra, and is exclusive to students. This differs from the six months of Google AI Pro that comes with the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is available to all users.
Tab S11 buyers will have to verify their student status to trigger the freebie. If you’re not studying but still want 12 months of free access to Google’s Pro AI tier, you need to purchase a Google Pixel 9 or Pixel 10. Alternatively, you can take the six months Samsung is offering for all other 2025 flagship Galaxy phones.
Now that all the major 2025 devices have been released, manufacturers will begin to battle it out with repeated promotions until the next smartphone generation lands in 2026. We can see that in the other deals Samsung has for the Galaxy Tab S11 series. The Korean company is bundling a free pair of Galaxy Buds3 with the tablet, alongside a free keyboard cover in the U.K.
Samsung will also pay up to £200 ($268.03) trade-in for any smartphone or tablet, in any condition. The company is becoming increasingly fond of this promotion, and I’m told it will truly honor the “any condition” part of that promise. But, to be safe, I would send in a working device. If you’re savvy enough, you can pick up an ultra-cheap, age-old tablet or smartphone from eBay or Swappa and send it in to trigger that discount.
Elsewhere, Galaxy Tab S11 buyers can get an extra 10% off the device if they buy it through the Samsung Shop app and use the code “NEW11”. Annoyingly, this coupon doesn’t stack with the long-running “APP5” voucher that knocks 5% off your purchases.
Samsung Goes All Out With Major Freebie Giveaways
In recent Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy S25 deals, Samsung has bundled a free Chromebook Go with purchases of either handset. If you buy a Fold 7 you will also get a free Galaxy Watch 7 alongside the laptop.
It’s rare for Samsung to give away two premium devices, for free, with a smartphone purchase. But it does show that we’re entering the serious discount season, with Black Friday two months away. Google, too, has joined in with its own $100 gift card giveaway for Pixel 10 buyers, while OnePlus and Motorola are running major deals. Don’t expect to see any iPhone 17 discounts until 2026, though.
Update September 29th: U.S. Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 buyers haven’t been left without a free subscription offer. Tablet buyers will get one free year of Goodnotes, a 30-day pass to LumaFusion and a $100 Robux code for Roblox. The tablet doesn’t come with Google AI Pro as standard for users based in the U.S., but students can still get a free subscription to the AI-tool directly from Google. That offer lasts until October 6th.
U.K.-based Galaxy Tab S11 buyers definitely have the better selection of offers and coupons, but the U.S. trade-in prices are more eye-catching. Samsung will pay $800 for a Tab S10 Ultra, which isn’t a swap I would recommend considering how new the 2024 flagship Samsung tablet is. But the Korean company will pay at least $200 for any Android tablet, which is worth taking advantage of because you can pick up a cheap second-hand slab for under $50. However, this isn’t the “any device, in any condition” deal that Samsung U.K. is running: you will need to make sure the device works and doesn’t have a cracked screen.
