Samsung’s Smart Fridge Turns Your Kitchen Into An Ad Billboard

Samsung Family Hub refrigerators are being transformed into a digital ad billboard right in your own kitchen with a new software update, according to a new report. Like it or not, owners of these premium models, priced between $1,700 and over $3,300, will now see ads on the refrigerator’s front-facing monitor whenever it sits idle. 

Android Authority spoke with a Samsung spokesperson who confirmed that an over-the-air software update will serve as an ad pilot program on Family Hub refrigerators, adding that the ads will “offer promotions and curated advertisements” designed to “strengthen the everyday value” of its home appliances for customers.

ads are coming to a Samsung smart FRIDGE near you!!!! pic.twitter.com/Er1pEEexFT

— Internet of Shit (@internetofshit) September 17, 2025

Here is the full statement from the Samsung spokesperson about the new ad program:  

Samsung is committed to innovation and enhancing every day value for our home appliance customers. As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen that value, we are conducting a pilot program to offer promotions and curated advertisements on certain Samsung Family Hub refrigerator models in the U.S. market.

As a part of this pilot program, Family Hub refrigerators in the U.S. will receive an over-the-network (OTN) software update with Terms of Service (T&C) and Privacy Notice (PN). Advertising will appear on certain Family Hub refrigerator Cover Screens. The Cover Screen appears when a Family Hub screen is idle. Ad design format may change depending on Family Hub personalization options for the Cover Screen, and advertising will not appear when Cover Screen displays Art Mode or picture albums.

Advertisements can be dismissed on the Cover Screens where ads are shown, meaning that specific ads will not appear again during the campaign period.

Here is Android Authority’s first take on the ad infestation that Samsung is about to unleash in the kitchen: 

It’s still unclear which exact refrigerators are getting the ad infestation, but Samsung’s current Family Hub-equipped lineup in the US starts at $1,800 and goes all the way up to $3,500. It doesn’t seem like users can entirely turn off ads, which is a shame. Disconnecting the fridge from the internet might stop the ads, but you will also inevitably lose out on several smart features you paid for. If you have a Samsung refrigerator with a door display, let us know in the comments how your experience has been with them, and how you feel about ads coming to them.

Let’s hope that with the arrival of humanoid robots in homes – likely by the end of this decade or early 2030s – these bots don’t become the ultimate ad trackers that bombard consumers with targeted ads on other devices inside their own homes. We suspect an incoming ad infestation is creeping into vehicle infotainment systems, which is why it might be wise to buy an old Mercedes diesel from the 1970s or 1980s, with cassette players and essentially no chips, to preserve some peace of mind ahead of the 2030s. Also, the feds can’t remotely brick old cars.