Samsung Galaxy S9 Price Leak Reveals Expensive New Phone
Samsung Galaxy S8
An industry expert has revealed to TechRadar that the Samsung Galaxy S9 will likely cost as much as $900 - the leak comes from the UK and suggests a retail price of £789. A straight conversion to dollars would put that at over $1100, but I don't imagine Samsung is going for that. My guess would put it between $850 and $900 in the US. To give the some additional background, the S8 launched at $750.
The source told TechRadar "You can expect the S9 to cost £100 more than the Galaxy S8 when it was released last year". He went on to explain that it's almost certainly because the public is prepared to cough up the money.
Let's stick with the UK pricing for now though and assume that the S9 will, indeed, be the £789 TechRadar's source suggests. That's not without precedent, as last year's phones - the S8 and S8+ - added about £100 to the S7 launch pricing. These jumps are annoying, but seemingly the high-end segment of the market is keen to exploit customers to the fullest extent their wallets will support.
Samsung is pushing the S9 as a camera upgrade in its pre-release invites to members of the press. Over at VentureBeat the rock-solid and ever-reliable Evan Blass says that the camera may feature a lens that can switch from f/1.5 to f/2.4 with a mechanical adjustment. Wide open apertures give better performance in low light (that's the f/1.5 bit) and a shallower depth of field. It's not clear what the f/2.4 setting would add, although it might be that this would offer sharper pictures in normal lighting conditions.
All of that said, it doesn't really matter what the S9 does or does not offer in terms of features, the price jump is significant and will make some people question the value of the S9 or S9+ and perhaps jump on the amazing Note 8. By the time Samsung announces the S9 and S9+ on Feb 25th there's a very real chance the Note 8 will have dropped even further in price.
For many users who got the game-changing S8 or S8+ last year none of this matters. These devices won't significantly change the game. This is Samsung's version of Apple's "s" year, where the phones get power tweaks but no major performance upgrades. That's likely part of the strategy too, as Samsung will have build enough S8s to know how to cut costs and produce the S9 at lower prices. Perhaps making it even more annoying that the S9 is predicted to be such an expensive phone at launch.
After Apple's iPhone X stormed onto the market at what some people claimed were ridiculous prices, it seems we're all just getting used to this. I'd argue that the iPhone was such a big leap that it was worth the extra money just to be there first - this was the only reason to get the original iPhone over, say, the Nokia N95 back in 2007. But seeing Samsung pushing prices up just makes me think people should go for the A series phones, which offer many of the great features of the S series devices but at lower costs.
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">Samsung Galaxy S8
An industry expert has revealed to TechRadar that the Samsung Galaxy S9 will likely cost as much as $900 - the leak comes from the UK and suggests a retail price of £789. A straight conversion to dollars would put that at over $1100, but I don't imagine Samsung is going for that. My guess would put it between $850 and $900 in the US. To give the some additional background, the S8 launched at $750.
The source told TechRadar "You can expect the S9 to cost £100 more than the Galaxy S8 when it was released last year". He went on to explain that it's almost certainly because the public is prepared to cough up the money.
Let's stick with the UK pricing for now though and assume that the S9 will, indeed, be the £789 TechRadar's source suggests. That's not without precedent, as last year's phones - the S8 and S8+ - added about £100 to the S7 launch pricing. These jumps are annoying, but seemingly the high-end segment of the market is keen to exploit customers to the fullest extent their wallets will support.
Samsung is pushing the S9 as a camera upgrade in its pre-release invites to members of the press. Over at VentureBeat the rock-solid and ever-reliable Evan Blass says that the camera may feature a lens that can switch from f/1.5 to f/2.4 with a mechanical adjustment. Wide open apertures give better performance in low light (that's the f/1.5 bit) and a shallower depth of field. It's not clear what the f/2.4 setting would add, although it might be that this would offer sharper pictures in normal lighting conditions.
All of that said, it doesn't really matter what the S9 does or does not offer in terms of features, the price jump is significant and will make some people question the value of the S9 or S9+ and perhaps jump on the amazing Note 8. By the time Samsung announces the S9 and S9+ on Feb 25th there's a very real chance the Note 8 will have dropped even further in price.
For many users who got the game-changing S8 or S8+ last year none of this matters. These devices won't significantly change the game. This is Samsung's version of Apple's "s" year, where the phones get power tweaks but no major performance upgrades. That's likely part of the strategy too, as Samsung will have build enough S8s to know how to cut costs and produce the S9 at lower prices. Perhaps making it even more annoying that the S9 is predicted to be such an expensive phone at launch.
After Apple's iPhone X stormed onto the market at what some people claimed were ridiculous prices, it seems we're all just getting used to this. I'd argue that the iPhone was such a big leap that it was worth the extra money just to be there first - this was the only reason to get the original iPhone over, say, the Nokia N95 back in 2007. But seeing Samsung pushing prices up just makes me think people should go for the A series phones, which offer many of the great features of the S series devices but at lower costs.
Now read:
Windows 10 is still free, sort of
YouTube's horrible treatment of creators is going to prevent new talent rising
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