The Phone wars are over...Samsung just won

[Jennifer Stough]

Very few are going to spend $650 on a phone.

Quite a few people already do. Whether its because they want to keep unlimited data, or they sell their contracted phone and buy a different off contract. It happens much more than you'd think. And this solves the issue of people who would have liked the s4 if it weren't for the atrociousness of touch wiz.

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[donm527#IM]

True... because though the first Nexus was named the Nexus One by HTC, samsung did not use 2 or 3 in their naming of the 2nd and 3rd gen Nexus.
If word of LG also doing the next gen Nexus is true... then I would say it's a good guess they will call it the Nexus 5.
Otherwise I'd just rather refer it to the upcoming 5th gen Nexus... which I see no reason why there will not be a 5th gen.

Also, I love the idea of a Google Edition S4... but at that price, to me, it's not worth it. If it were subsized and I can get it for $200-$250... maybe $300... then I'd go for it.
Samsung made it so that they can take credit for making it and to add to their image... but they know it's not available through carriers subsidized so they know only a small handful of fanatics will buy it... they wouldnt want it subsidized and have it compete with their own TW/feature bloated regular S4... they want to push their TW look and features (not push Android) for their eventual jump to Tizen.

My issue is with assuming the next Nexus phone will be called "Nexus 5".

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[TheLibertarian]

I think there will be a new Nexus phone this fall. I'm not calling it a Nexus 5 though.

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That's fair.

One has to imagine, based off this naming strategy, what the Nexus in 2015 would be called as Nexus 7 moniker is already in use.

 

[Suda]

But as we all know, BOM isn't the only factor in the cost of a phone.

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And it just so happens that 98% of the Galaxy S4's features come from these added parts that are also on this "Nexus S4". So while it may not be everything it's the majority in this case. It only cost Samsung around ~$220 to make the phone so of course the markup is there, but what can you do about it? There's an outrageous markup on every single smartphone you buy, no scratch that, there's a markup on every single thing you buy period.

 

[donm527#IM]

samsung sold 6 million S4s in such a short time since launch... even though quite a few people do pay full price... I doubt it will be a fraction of a percent of total S4s sold at the end of product cycle.

it's not like over a million Nexus 4 because the demand is crazy for a fairly strong quad core pure android phone for a few hundred bucks.

Quite a few people already do. Whether its because they want to keep unlimited data, or they sell their contracted phone and buy a different off contract. It happens much more than you'd think. And this solves the issue of people who would have liked the s4 if it weren't for the atrociousness of touch wiz.

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[Suda]

Haven't had a chance to look at it, did they get rid of the crappy galaxy physical button? If so I'll wait for it to arrive on carriers. Will updates still go through Samsung and carriers? If so I'll pass for the nexus 5 because Samsung won't have won squat if that's the case

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The button's there, there are no physical changes.

 

[Ry]

And it just so happens that 98% of the Galaxy S4's features come from these added parts that are also on this "Nexus S4". So while it may not be everything it's the majority in this case. It only cost Samsung around ~$220 to make the phone so of course the markup is there, but what can you do about it? There's an outrageous markup on every single smartphone you buy, no scratch that, there's a markup on every single thing you buy period.

I can see LindtChocolate's point. We know everything is marked up.

You're paying for the materials. But you're also paying for the assembly, the packaging, the shipping, the hardware engineers, the software engineers, and the marketing.

But throwing stock Android on there "should" significantly reduce the software engineering cost and since it just being sold through Google Play, there "should" little to no marketing cost.

The Google Edition S4 "shouldn't" cost the same as a regular S4.

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[Suda]

I can see LindtChocolate's point. We know everything is marked up.

You're paying for the materials. But you're also paying for the assembly, the packaging, the shipping, the hardware engineers, the software engineers, and the marketing.

But throwing stock Android on there "should" significantly reduce the software engineering cost and since it just being sold through Google Play, there "should" little to no marketing cost.

The Google Edition S4 "shouldn't" cost the same as a regular S4.

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What I'm beginning to see around the internet as common in regards to people whiffing at this price is that they're not getting that this phone is a Samsung Galaxy S4. This is not a Google Nexus so the Nexus rules shouldn't apply, Google didn't have any influence on this phone other than what OS it runs. So when you look at this way and realize that while it's running Nexus software it's in an S4 shell and more of an Samsung product, I don't see how you could be upset about the price. It's in the same price echelon as every other high end phone off contract.

 

[Ry]

What I'm beginning to see around the internet as common in regards to people whiffing at this price is that they're not getting that this phone is a Samsung Galaxy S4. This is not a Google Nexus so the Nexus rules shouldn't apply, Google didn't have any influence on this phone other than what OS it runs. So when you look at this way and realize that while it's running Nexus software it's in an S4 shell and more of an Samsung product, I don't see how you could be upset about the price. It's in the same price echelon as every other high end phone off contract.

I think people are just spoiled with the Nexus 4 pricing that they think they that's what phones really cost.

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[donm527#IM]

It costs around the same amount for LG to make the Nexus 4 "for Google"... but the last part is the difference... Google is selling the phone and it's Google that is selling the phone for a little over cost to get it out to as many people that want it.

Samsung is selling the GE S4 through the Play Store, but it's not a Google phone... Google is not subsidizing the phone and dont have to... it's a nice phone... but not an important phone to Google.

And it just so happens that 98% of the Galaxy S4's features come from these added parts that are also on this "Nexus S4". So while it may not be everything it's the majority in this case. It only cost Samsung around ~$220 to make the phone so of course the markup is there, but what can you do about it? There's an outrageous markup on every single smartphone you buy, no scratch that, there's a markup on every single thing you buy period.

 

[benhmadison]

I think options are great for android users but when they announced this it came as a shock to me. I think the price point is too high for what it is. Yes it's the newest flagship but it's just not a galaxy without touchwiz. In the scheme of Samsung it won't hurt or help their dominance but it's a great option for many Devs. I'm happy with the nexus 4 and look forward to the next gen nexus. It's a slight upgrade spec wise to the n4 but definitely not worth 300 more.

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[TheLibertarian]

Most ignorant OP ever.

TouchWiz though laggy is superior to stock Jellybean. Come back when they do something different with Keylime. Android has looked the same since Gingerbread.

Seems just an ignorant from you as that's merely your opinion.

 

[omniusovermind]

Most ignorant OP ever.

TouchWiz though laggy is superior to stock Jellybean. Come back when they do something different with Keylime. Android has looked the same since Gingerbread.

Is this a joke post? I can't take either of you seriously.

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[Suda]

It costs around the same amount for LG to make the Nexus 4 "for Google"... but the last part is the difference... Google is selling the phone and it's Google that is selling the phone for a little over cost to get it out to as many people that want it.

Samsung is selling the GE S4 through the Play Store, but it's not a Google phone... Google is not subsidizing the phone and dont have to... it's a nice phone... but not an important phone to Google.

It's definitely an important phone because it's unprecedented, if Google didn't think people would be interested then they wouldn't have wasted their time. I obviously don't know but I'm willing to bet it was Google who reached out to Samsung to make this happen in the first place. The sales of this phone are going to be extremely minute to whatever the base S4 sells. And with the Galaxy S4 Zoom, Mini, Duos, and Active I doubt it was Samsung showing up on Google doorstep to pick up the project. But the good thing to come out of all of this is that there's the chance that manufacturers will collaborate with Google in the future.

 

[omniusovermind]

I'm betting this phone will make its way to carriers on a subsidized contract by the end of the year just like the n4 has. I've already heard some colorful swear words earlier today about this stealth release by someone who just signed his locked in contract with the s4

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[JHBThree]

It's definitely an important phone because it's unprecedented, if Google didn't think people would be interested then they wouldn't have wasted their time. I obviously don't know but I'm willing to bet it was Google who reached out to Samsung to make this happen in the first place. The sales of this phone are going to be extremely minute to whatever the base S4 sells. And with the Galaxy S4 Zoom, Mini, Duos, and Active I doubt it was Samsung showing up on Google doorstep to pick up the project. But the good thing to come out of all of this is that there's the chance that manufacturers will collaborate with Google in the future.

Its not unprecedented. The original Motorola Droid was a Google experience device, as was the original Xoom.

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[smooth3006]

Too expensive, it wont sell well. Hell i payed only $600 for my 32gb at&t htc one. And its sim & bootloader unlocked now, even has aosp roms. Google is nuts to sell this s4 for that price without even offering larger storage.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Very few are going to spend $650 on a phone.

Well, anyone who has the new T-Mobile un-subsidized cell phone plan probably will.

 

[Suda]

Its not unprecedented. The original Motorola Droid was a Google experience device, as was the original Xoom.

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Uh, yeah, not nearly the same earth shattering news. That goes for both of those products. The iPhone was superior to the OG Droid, Google is putting out their touches on the most spec advanced phone on the market. That includes whatever Apple is putting out this year.

Too expensive, it wont sell well. Hell i payed only $600 for my 32gb at&t htc one. And its sim & bootloader unlocked now, even has aosp roms. Google is nuts to sell this s4 for that price without even offering larger storage.

It'll at least sell one unit because I'll definitely be buying one. It's "the" smartphone for the first half of this year (yes, even over the HTC One) and I'm interested to see the reviews on it. Literally everything software wise that has been nitpicked is gone so we're going to see just how important build material is.

 

[icyrock1]

I suspect sales figures by this time next year will disagree.

It's going to be sold online only via google play from what I understand. Most of the general public won't even know the phone exists.

The general public could care less.

HTC ONE ~ Android Central App

Awesome user name, btw. Xavier ftw.