Historically, Samsung’s flagship Galaxy prices start dropping about 30 to 40 percent six months after its launch. But as redditor MrRoyce points out, you can get a Galaxy S10 with a $225 discount in Europe right now.
MrRoyce has been tracking the price of the Galaxy S10 with 128GB in Germany since the phone first launched. Like he points out, price drops are normal after a few months. But it is surprising to see this drop so soon:
Major retailers like Amazon Germany are showing significant discounts on the S10 with 128GB of storage, which you can get for as low as $896 compared to the European list price of $1025 (909 Euro). Specialized discount houses will go as low as 23-percent discounts: Idealo.de shows the S10 with 128GB at $777 (690 Euro). Other retailers show similar discounts in Spain and other countries.
Price drops happened with the Galaxy S8 and the S9 too, both in Europe and the United States — but only a few months after the introduction. The S8’s price dropped an outstanding 25.8 percent just three months after launch. This early $225 S10 price drop — just five weeks after its launch and barely two weeks after it became available —makes you wonder about how fast these units are selling. Especially since Europe is one of Samsung’s strongest markets.
Apple had to implement all kinds of price tactics to lower the entry point price of the latest iPhones without altering the list price, since they just weren’t selling as much as they expected.
How to get a cheaper Samsung Galaxy S10 right now
The price drops are not happening all over the world. In the US, the Galaxy S10 is officially $900 and, but you can get a $390 credit on T-Mobile if you agree to a 24 or 36-month lease. Be sure to check out all of the Best Galaxy S10 deals we’ve researched so far.
MORE: Galaxy S10 vs. Galaxy S10 Plus vs. Galaxy S10e: What Should You Buy?
Some eBay sellers located in the United States are selling dual SIM Galaxy S10 global units with tiny discounts — $880 with free FedEx shipping vs $900. Redditors claim that international sellers importing units from places like the United Arab Emirates can offer prices as low as $770.
But these imports comes with substantial drawbacks. First of all, the supported bands: the global version doesn’t work with CDMA carriers like Verizon or Sprint. They will work with AT&T and T-Mobile, though. You may also get worse connectivity because these phones don’t support all the bands offered by these carriers.
Another drawback is that they use the Exynos processor, which is not as fast as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 in the US version. And you won’t be able to use Samsung Pay.
So perhaps, unless you really must have a Galaxy S10 at a cheaper price right now, your best bet is wait three months and see the price drop across the board for the US version.
After all, if you waited years to upgrade, what’s a few more weeks? It just seems really silly to pay more than 20 percent extra knowing that prices are going to drop.
