Rumors abound just ahead of MWC, and the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S5 owns a lions’ share of them. Screen size, specs, and special features all get the wink-and-nudge treatment, but a new report may give us something a bit more impactful to consider. If you’ve stayed away from upgrading a new phone based on pricing, you might not have to with the S5.
According to Bloomberg, Samsung is in talks with carriers regarding pricing for the S5. Samsung hasn’t released pricing to their various worldwide partners yet as they’re having internal dialogue about just what the pricing should be. Some feel the new model should be cheaper than previous iterations.
Though the Galaxy S4 sold like mad, and has amassed sales figures north of 60 million units, it didn’t have the same energy or fervor as the S3. Some felt the S4 was too similar to the S3, and passed on it altogether. An S5 may see the continuation of a downward trend for the Galaxy S lineup — unless Samsung can offer it at a lower price, enticing more to snatch one up.
Contributing to the lower-than-expected sales of the S4 was the S3 still being on offer with various carriers. Much like Apple sees when they release a new device, many will simply opt for the slightly lesser-than version from last year. The S4 is already seeing discounted prices from just about every carrier and retail environment, so dropping the price on an S5 is not a bad idea. Will it happen? Hopefully we find out at MWC later this week.
May the lower sales of the S4 compared to the S3 be the result of consumers on a 2 year contract so all the millions of people who bought the S3 wouldn’t abandon their purchase 12 months later. However, with the S5 being released almost 2 years after the S3 we may see a lot of people trading up this time.