There is one thing that most summer travel guides for 2026 may not cover. It has nothing to do with the hidden spots that locals love in London or that hole in the wall restaurant on Italy’s Amalfi coast that remains untouched by Instagram hype.
What happens if your phone needs repair while on vacation? Do you go to one of the many repair shops in a busy, touristy market and end up paying way too much money for fake and unusual parts?
Or do you bite the bullet and end up spending a good chunk of change to buy a new phone ready to capture all your vacation photos and videos?
No one can imagine going on vacation now without their phone. It’s where your boarding passes are kept, what you use to pay, check into your hotel, and find your way around a new city. The powerful AI features offered by Galaxy devices now allow you to access real-time rendering and other related features that make it easier to discover the world.
Phone damage on vacation is more common than you might think, so it’s best to be prepared if you ever find yourself in that situation. Samsung’s own data shows that Samsung Care+ claims submitted in July and August, after the usual summer holiday period, are 30% higher than the annual average.
Samsung Care+ is a protection plan that covers accidental damage. It offers everything from unlimited repairs for screens and batteries to theft and loss protection. It is a reasonable facility available for as low as $8 per month. Samsung Care+ plans can be purchased when you purchase a device at Samsung.com.
It is more important now than ever to have this layer of protection in place. Smartphones are getting more and more expensive and the way things are going now, they may fetch higher prices. Samsung has quietly raised the prices of several phones and tablets in the United States, and its upcoming devices will likely cost more than their predecessors.
The conclusion here is very simple. A device in your pocket has never been more difficult to get back out of the pocket, and the argument for securing it has never been more clear. Samsung Care+ is still not very attractive, it’s just that the cost of shutting down your device if it is damaged beyond repair is increasing.
There is a certain peace of mind that comes with being a Samsung user. It has the widest sales service network in the world for any smartphone brand. Whether you find yourself in London, Barcelona, Cape Town, or Los Angeles, chances are you’ll be able to find an authorized service center where trained technicians can repair your device using genuine Samsung parts.
Your Samsung Care+ protection goes with you, so you can avoid the hassle of spending hours wandering around a foreign repair shop, wondering if the parts are genuine, worrying about the safety of personal data on your device, and wondering if the repair will void the manufacturer’s warranty.
Relying on the Samsung Care+ service network ensures that precious hours and days of your vacation are not spent trying to figure out how to get your phone back to a foreign country, instead they are spent relaxing, unwinding, and exploring. That’s what holidays are meant to be after all.
If you’re carrying a Galaxy Z Fold 7 or Galaxy S26 Ultra this summer, the question of whether you should have Samsung Care+ isn’t really a question anymore. At these price levels, in a market where mid-cycle replacements cost hundreds of dollars more than at launch, the Care+ charge is likely a cheaper outcome compared to replacing the device without coverage.