By Prior to a device’s actual release, we always see them pop up for pre-order on third party websites and soon after, articles and speculation about the actual price start to pop up. Well, the Samsung Galaxy S2 has been made available for pre-order at Clove UK and it has me wondering what the pricetag process is for these retailers.
Do the math:
- After taxes, 32GB model costs 708 GBP
- 708 GBP = 804 Euro = $1150+
The Samsung Galaxy S2 is a great phone and all, but spending more than $1k on it seems rather ridiculous. That makes me wonder if I should listen to the pricing of any 3rd party retailer prior to launch ever again.
Obviously, retailers want to capture the attention of consumers as quick as possible and cash in on those eager to snap up the hottest upcoming device. They’re banking your money and earning money on the interest. In many cases, our guess is probably as good as theirs for the price point, so what do they do? Set it to something they KNOW will be a premium compared to actual price and let the pre-orders roll in. This way, they can’t lose.
For this reason, I’m not too worried about the S2 having an outrageous price. It’ll be up there, but $1,150+ doesn’t sound like something reasonable and doesn’t sound like something Samsung would approach. Then again, Amazon Germany posted a similar price for pre-order yesterday.
Do you trust pre-order pricing as an actual pricing indicator? Would you pay $800+ or $1100+ for the Galaxy S2 off contract?
This article is very very harsh on what is one of the UK’s best mobile websites.
Clove have already themselves explained why the price is as high as it is, and started a Poll and discussion about our views on it “high” price.
This article lacks research!
Clove have said they are getting a very very nominal mark up on this price and the reason it is so high is solely down to Samsung. They have said it might drop prior to release, but it might not, its entirely down to Samsung to make that decision.
Its unfair to make shops like Clove take the blame for high prices enforced by greedy manufacturers.
Rob, we had this discussion on an article I think Quentin wrote yesterday. You’ll find that UK £ price is equal to American $ Price.
By that I mean if something is priced at £700, then that will translate to $700 in America.
Our tech toys are much more expensive for us than for you guys, might want to change the article to reflect this :p
You’ll be glad to hear that it’s us in the UK that are getting the short end of the stick.
Currency rarely scales according to exchange rate, its usually a 1:1 thing, so I would be surprised if it did pop up at that price.
kinda makes me a little pissed about the Xoom for that reason but hey…
Phandroid has lost a bit of credibility in the last couple of days. First with the XOOM article yesterday in thinking Pounds and Euros are the same thing and now with this not understanding how SIM free phones are sold in the UK and assuming the current exchange rate means the US market will get it at the current rate
I think this article is pretty unfair on clove, considering Samsung are indeed the ones who supply provisional pricing. Take the Galaxy Tab for example, samsung overpriced that, and have since had to lower thier price on this due to poor sales.
This article lacks research! Seriously…
Wow, nuthin but haters up in here
I would buy this even for $2,000 if they would just confirm it for freaking Tmobile…
Fuck that!
neither. i’ll wait for it to hit T-Mo most likely and jump to them for it
This happens on any new device prices are always up in the air until launch day. HTC devices are the same…
Clove do not charge customers who place pre-orders so they are not making any money until they actually ship the devices and customers agree to pay for them. Plus, they always give customers the final price, so should the price change, customers pay the price on day of release, no other. Pretty fair I think?!
How do Apple charge what they do for the iPhone, same scenario really isn’t it?
£708 = UK price including UK tax.
US don’t pay UK tax so get it at £590 on today’s rate (1.6) that’s approx $962
I do not go along with speculated pre-order pricing. I don’t go along with Walmart or Best buy pricing either, only T-Mobile and Craigslist.
Just to add further
“They’re banking your money and earning money on the interest.”
You don’t actually pay the price of the phone up front when you pre-order….so there is no interest to be gained at all by setting the pre-order so high, infact it would surely just deter people who don’t want to pay such prices.
Samsung are the ones to be targeting here
Clove is a UK based website so the taxes there wont apply if you order it to the US. Even if you factor an import duty to the US it probably wont reach the price you calculated. And if you don’t want to pay the premium for importing then wait until it gets a release in the US, as someone has already said US/UK prices almost always translate 1:1 when sold in the native country
Also, taking into account UK tax and adding that to the “math” as you have put it is a bit of a bath fialure as the tax in each country will be different. Nice Fail.
Based on the current exchange rates, and now this is a moot point, as this is supposing all prices will be based on the UK price, which we know they won’t. Conversion rates would take 599 British pounds = 975.6512 U.S. dollars
That is crazy! Either that’s a high crazy price or people in the UK are rich as *&%^!
gay ass price
TMo will hit it up with $200-$250 on new activation! People need to calm the pug down
As with every new phone that comes out, wait a month and get it for usually half the cost. The GS2 is no different.
People definitely need to chill. 1) If the sites credibility is gone, why are you here reading and commenting? 2) It IS the early price… it will come down. 3) Hell yes, I’ll pay just about any price for this phone. I would expect final price to come down to about 699/ 799, in the iphone range, will still sucks because that means it’ll be about 299 / 399 for new activation, but it’s definitely worth it. There hasn’t been a phone like this. I know later in the year they’re going to be releasing a slew of 4g phones with quad-core chips, but I don’t think battery technology/ price is ready for that. The best option is this phone right here. It is… the One.
I agree with some of the previous posters. This is harsh on Clove and lacks basic research by the author.
What with this and the continuing crap put out by Kevin Krause I do agree that Phandroid has lost a lot of credibility.
Shame.
please do research on normal pricings, guys. thanks.
@Lekky
Thank you for explaining that because I was about to.
I don’t even understand why you wouldn’t say the advertised price in the advertised currency rather than converting it to American dollars under some exchange rate. All UK and European phones get these prices on the regular.
What are you talking about. Have a look at the price of the iPhone 4 32Gb on Amazon UK. Proces here are always higher than everywhere else we are used to it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPhone-Black-Mobile-Network/dp/B003TYNZU6
what’s the latest release date rumor for US???
Fuck that! I’ll never pay that price for a phone. And phandroid is going to make mistakes like anybody else. That’s what I like about them. Me knowing they are fucking human and not machines. You can correct them and hope they make the right correction. Is that Okay with you fucking cry babies?
Even if it 1150 in pennies, it is not worth it since it is a Samsung.
hahahaha, I’ll wait for it to get to Walmart and buy it in some small Midwest town with 6% tax without a contract AFTER LG learns its lesson about competitive pricing in US :)))))
Mr walker: phandroid never publish corrections. They’re amateurs. I suspect they’ll be hearing from clove’s lawyers over some of the accusations in this article.
I think they always aim for the highest price at first so they don’t have to increase the price of pre orders later once the actual pricing is confirmed.
Europe is expensive on tech.
The UK is even more expensive. Despite the higher value of a British pound, the price in Euro is almost in every case the same number or even less.
Amazon Germany offers it for €599 on pre-order (with taxes). So you can expect this thingy costs between $599-$649.
That’s because the rest of Europe, despite the higher value of the Euro against the Dollar, are paying much more that people in the US.
Those poor European seems to get screwed all the time :).
And that’s why it will be a good price in the US.
Galaxy S2 is an excellent smartphone, but I’m waiting for powerful and sleek dual-core HTC megacandy.:D
And the answer is: NO. There are other smartphones which can do the job, but are now available for much lower price due to supply glut of parts — the SE Neo is only about $500 but already has 1ghz snapdragon CPU with 8mp camera and HD video, while the Samsung S2 mini will cost only about $600, but have 1.4ghz CPU and tons of memory.
For 1000 bucks, i expect something lots more– like a vacation package in Fiji, or a 1 bedroom flat in LA, or downpayment for a car — and Not “just” another smartphone which may become old news in the next 6 months.. LOL