Is This Galaxy S10 Price Drop Normal?
There's a certain price drop in effect right now for the Galaxy S10 – and some of our readers have suggested it's pretty significant. But let's take a look at price drops around the world real quick and see. Is this really a significant movement in cost, or is this just the way things go with Samsung's phones every year, and it's only now that we've suddenly started paying attention?
Right this minute you can purchase a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus from Samsung online for $700 USD. You can get a refurbished version of the same phone for around $470. The Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus was initially launched for approximately $840. So the price isn't exactly massively lowered from initial launch – for that, you'll want to head back even further. But pay heed – you might want to consider the drawbacks of buying an older-model phone if that's your plan.
Samsung has the Galaxy S10 Plus up on their site right now for $999 USD. That's the same price as the device was at launch. These are US-based prices for the phone aimed at the US market. If we look at the price chart of this device in its "Duos" edition over at a site like Geizhals (in Germany) you'll see the price fluctuate a bit, starting in on discounted sales a little less than a month after initial launch. The average price cut here seems to be around €50, give or take a few tenners.
On the UK-based version of the price comparison network, Skinflint (that is QUITE the interesting brand name, I must say), they also show sales of discounted versions of the S10 Plus starting in at less than a month after initial launch. That's for the duos version as well. On average, it would seem that the Galaxy S10 Plus Duos version is selling for around £50 lower than its initial asking price.
The most major cut seems to be through the site idealo.de – also in Germany. I won't link to the site directly because I don't want you to rush out and buy a phone that's not necessarily compatible with your network here in the USA – but the price is a significant cut. Right now the price of the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is approximately €70 lower than initial launch.
Let's assume for a moment that we're dealing with basic 1:1 monetary units here to make figuring out this situation simple. If the standard price drop for a Galaxy S phone is 140 (from S9 to S10) one year after launch (more than that, but we're being general), what should the price of the Galaxy S10 be now?
Right now we're at around one year after the reveal/launch of the Galaxy S10. If we split our year into 12 parts for 12 months, we get 1/12 or 0.083. Approximately $999 times 0.083 equals 82.92. So actually, if we're still being very general about this whole thing, a regular price drop each month on its way to 140 one year later would mean the Galaxy S10 Plus SHOULD have a discount at around 83 right this minute. So we're right on track!