Home United States USA — software Samsung finally got carriers to agree on same price for Note 9

Samsung finally got carriers to agree on same price for Note 9

288
0
SHARE

It’s a small detail, but worth pointing out: the Note 9 is the same price, regardless of where you buy it.
Video: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is official: Here’s what’s new
With each Samsung smartphone release, there’s a period of time after the announcement during which we have to wait for each carrier to announce pricing.
Samsung: Sign up to reserve the next Galaxy| The New, Super Powerful Galaxy Note 9
Samsung sold the Galaxy S9 for $720 when it launched, while Sprint charged $792 and AT&T charged $793 for the same device. A $70 difference is crazy. It has never made sense to me why Samsung, the largest phone maker in the world, has let carriers set their own pricing instead of telling carriers what to charge.
You won’t find Apple’s iPhone with varying price points when it goes on sale next month. Apple sets the price for the carriers, and that’s the end of it.
For the first time in recent memory, the Galaxy Note 9 is priced at $999 for the 128GB model and $1,249 for the 512GB model across the board. Granted, most carriers and retailers are running promotions for the Note 9, but not a single one directly impacts the starting price of the device.
Also: Best cell phone trade-in options for iPhone, Android and Windows phones CNET
Samsung is offering up to $450 off the Note 9 when you trade in your old smartphone. T-Mobile is offering up to $500 off when you trade in an eligible Samsung device. Sam’s Club is offering a $200 gift card. AT&T and Verizon are doing buy-one-get-one-free promotions, and Sprint is doing a 50-percent off the monthly payment plan, but every single one of those promotions starts at Samsung’s listed price of $999 (or $1,249).
It appears Samsung has finally used its position in the industry and set the price for carriers, leading to a consistent shopping experience for consumers. In turn, it makes the Note 9 slightly more appealing. Instead of having to worry about paying a higher price for the phone based solely on your carrier, consumers will now feel like they are being treated equally.
Also: Trade-in your current phone| Samsung Galaxy Note 9: A cheat sheet TechRepublic
When I reached out to Samsung to ask about the Note 9’s pricing, a representative told me: « We are doing things differently this time and aligned to one price across carriers. For details on the specific promotions, we recommend you reach out to the carriers. »
I don’t want to ask for too much, but if Samsung can do what it just did with pricing and apply it to bloatware and unnecessary software pre-installed software on future devices, I think everyone would appreciate it.

Continue reading...