Is the S20 Ultra a failure?

[bhatech]

Does the shortage seem to be mainly Carrier Versions of the Ultra with 512Gb? Seems like most who ordered the Unlocked units got them?

Could be since Samsung knows carrier versions most people are going to just buy from the carriers directly and carriers would have said make more of the 128 GB model compared to 512 GB.


They underestimated for sure but doesn't tell if it sold well or bad. Only that it outsold the original stock and only Samsung knows what the stock was. It could be 100 or million who knows. If I had to guess it'll be that they made small volume of the higher end storage since majority sales is going to be the base model and most people aren't going to think it's worth the additional money for the storage/RAM upgrade.

And even the unlocked model went out of stock on Samsung.com pretty quickly. The shipping dates started slipping after first few days of pre order and eventually listed as out of stock. Even now it says out of stock on their website. I'm guessing at this point they will just fulfill the pending 512 GB backordered pre-orders before taking any new orders.

 

[Mike Dee]

Could be since Samsung knows carrier versions most people are going to just buy from the carriers directly and carriers would have said make more of the 128 GB model compared to 512 GB.


They underestimated for sure but doesn't tell if it sold well or bad. Only that it outsold the original stock and only Samsung knows what the stock was. It could be 100 or million who knows. If I had to guess it'll be that they made small volume of the higher end storage since majority sales is going to be the base model and most people aren't going to think it's worth the additional money for the storage/RAM upgrade.

And even the unlocked model went out of stock on Samsung.com pretty quickly. The shipping dates started slipping after first few days of pre order and eventually listed as out of stock. Even now it says out of stock on their website. I'm guessing at this point they will just fulfill the pending 512 GB backordered pre-orders before taking any new orders.

The article I read indicated that they sold less plus models and more Ultras than anticipated. Not clear if the Ultra stole sales from the Plus.

 

[bhatech]

The article I read indicated that they sold less plus models and more Ultras than anticipated. Not clear if the Ultra stole sales from the Plus.

Could be overall but definitely the 512 GB model isn't the one stealing those sales. I can see people choosing the 128 GB Ultra over the S20+ but very few people are going to say let me go to the 512 GB instead of the S20+.

 

[Mike Dee]

Could be overall but definitely the 512 GB model isn't the one stealing those sales. I can see people choosing the 128 GB Ultra over the S20+ but very few people are going to say let me go to the 512 GB instead of the S20+.

It could from those looking at a plus 512. In any event, they miscalculated demand.

 

[buzzy3970]

Seems like we say that every launch about the popular phone makers lol.

It could from those looking at a plus 512. In any event, they miscalculated demand.

 

[Mike Dee]

Seems like we say that every launch about the popular phone makers lol.

I'm referring specifically to the miscalculation of which models would sell more within the S20 line

 

[mustang7757]

For my edification, and not to stray the thread. But, with so many cloud storage solutions available, why the need for 512GB?
Merely curious.

Because it offers more then a free cloud service , and the ones you pay for go by monthly or yearly fee which 512gb it's there all the time after you purchase the phone .

 

[bhatech]

For my edification, and not to stray the thread. But, with so many cloud storage solutions available, why the need for 512GB?
Merely curious.

Not absolutely needed but anyway the upgrade also had 16 GB RAM, I thought why not. And yes 16 GB is also overkill but sometimes I go crazy and max out even though if it's not needed.

If the base model had 256 GB instead of 128, I think I would have just settled with that even though 12 gb ram. Honestly it's disappointing that Samsung charges so much and puts only 128 GB.
And I'm never using SD card, not my preference.

And yes pretty much all of my stuff is in cloud storage so at the end doesn't matter but it's more of just a luxury to have more storage

 

[Mike Dee]

For my edification, and not to stray the thread. But, with so many cloud storage solutions available, why the need for 512GB?
Merely curious.

Well, some of us need more than 128 and they didn't make a 256 option which have been a good alternative. It really depends on what you use your device for. The cloud is not a good solution for large music or video files.

 

[eshropshire]

Samsung made a mistake forcing 5G on the S20 line causing the price to be high. Nobody is wise enough to compare the price to the 5G versions of the note 10 and S10. With that said, yes phones are getting to expensive. They have been doing that for awhile, shouldn't have expected anything different here.

I fully agree with your comment. I can't see a single use case in a consumer device for 5G over LTE now or in the next 12-24 months. Unless posting images of speed tests excite people. The only ones I think are even interesting are the few Verizon 5G test where the person is standing in the right spot on the right street. AT&T and T-Mobile the speed increase seems pretty negligible to me.

 

[eshropshire]

I believe the demand for the Ultra was underestimated. I read that Samsung thought they would sell more Plus models and it didnt turn out quite that way.

From talking to people who sell phones, I think Samsung is really regretting not having a non 5G model under $900. Sure they are selling S20x models, but nothing in the numbers they have sold in the past on an introduction. I hear the S10e is the hot model right now. BestBuy told me they have not been sold out for several weeks except for the unlocked model.

 

[Mike Dee]

From talking to people who sell phones, I think Samsung is really regretting not having a non 5G model under $900. Sure they are selling S20x models, but nothing in the numbers they have sold in the past on an introduction. I hear the S10e is the hot model right now. BestBuy told me they have not been sold out for several weeks except for the unlocked model.

That is a separate conversation that has nothing to do with my post. What I'm saying is that the demand for the high end model was underestimated.

 

[Emig5m]

And I'm never using SD card, not my preference

I think it's smarter and cheaper to buy a phone with less built-in storage and add a SD card that you can then transfer and reuse in your next device while again paying a lot less for your new device. Kind of like building a new PC but recycling as many as the parts as you can reuse to save money on buying parts that you don't need like say, power supplies, case, keyboard, etc.

Why pay an extraordinate price for built-in storage for every new device when you can pay a lot less by reusing a SD card and still have the same amount (or more) of storage and save a ton of money in the long run?

 

[Mike Dee]

I think it's smarter and cheaper to buy a phone with less built-in storage and add a SD card that you can then transfer and reuse in your next device while again paying a lot less for your new device. Kind of like building a new PC but recycling as many as the parts as you can reuse to save money on buying parts that you don't need like say, power supplies, case, keyboard, etc.

Why pay an extraordinate price for built-in storage for every new device when you can pay a lot less by reusing a SD card and still have the same amount (or more) of storage and save a ton of money in the long run?

If it was that simple we would all buy SD storage and get a base device. SD storage is not the same as internal storage in performance or reliability.

 

[mustang7757]

If it was that simple we would all buy SD storage and get a base device. SD storage is not the same as internal storage in performance or reliability.

I agree with you .

 

[eshropshire]

If it was that simple we would all buy SD storage and get a base device. SD storage is not the same as internal storage in performance or reliability.

I understand what you are saying, but as far as I can see in local area I would have no problem buying a S20 Ultra today in my local area. A lot more supply of S20s of both varieties. That is not surprising considering the cost to benefit ratio. Hard to push expensive 5G phones when there is limited 5G availability and need.

 

[Mike Dee]

I understand what you are saying, but as far as I can see in local area I would have no problem buying a S20 Ultra today in my local area. A lot more supply of S20s of both varieties. That is not surprising considering the cost to benefit ratio. Hard to push expensive 5G phones when there is limited 5G availability and need.

I'm not clear on how that's related to what I said.

 

[customshopkv1]

I have used iPhones since the 4 and just switched to the Ultra. Love it!!

 

[rcab]

I ordered from T-Mobile the Ultra 512gb buy 1 get 1 with add a line on March 3rd. Email said delivery would be Mid-May to early June. I just got confirmation on Friday that my add line one is being delivered on Monday and the other would be as scheduled. The customer service rep said priority is given to add a line

 

[eshropshire]

I understand what you are saying, but as far as I can see in local area I would have no problem buying a S20 Ultra today in my local area. A lot more supply of S20s of both varieties. That is not surprising considering the cost to benefit ratio. Hard to push expensive 5G phones when there is limited 5G availability and need.

Quite correct Mike too busy to pay attention and responded to the wrong message
BTW I agree with your point on SD Card storage vs internal. I have a 512 Note 10+. I am a big data hog but to be honest now I really could easily been fine with 256 internal. I keep most of my media and photos on my SD card. 128 internal might be tight, but I am using that much right now on my Note 10+.