Samsung now offering free DeX Station or Gear VR with S8

With more choices than ever, competition between flagship smartphones is heating up. If you have been undecided about upgrading your aging smartphone until now, Samsung is hoping to attract customers who were previously on the fence about buying a new premium handset by sweetening the deal. For the time being, US-based purchasers of either a Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Active, S8+, or Note 8 will get a free DeX Station or Gear VR with their purchase.

If you're looking just by the value, the Samsung DeX retails for US$99 while the Gear VR costs around US$129 with controllers. For productivity-minded consumers, however, the DeX may be the smarter choice. The DeX Station is a docking solution that currently enables a Continuum-like desktop UI that not only provides better productivity than the phone alone, but it could soon be even better than that. The latest news says that Samsung is working on putting Linux on Galaxy phones, meaning that you could use the DeX and your new Samsung phone to run any Linux app in a full desktop environment. The app is currently in development, but you can sign up to be notified of any releases here.

To redeem the offer, you must purchase the phone directly from Samsung and add your choice of either the Gear VR or DeX to the cart before purchasing.