A Samsung S24 Ultra smartphone at a Samsung Unveiled event in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA … [+]
Google isn’t the only company to repeatedly discount its flagship hardware; Samsung has taken a similarly aggressive path when it comes to lowering the price of the Galaxy S24.
Currently, Samsung has lowered the price on the higher storage options of the Galaxy S24 Plus and Ultra models. That means you can get the 256GB option on both models for the price of the 512GB device, which is a $120 discount on both phones.
This comes with improved trade-in values for old devices, reaching $600 and $750 for the Plus and Ultra respectively. These are two of the many sales, discounts, vouchers and offers Samsung has offered since the devices launched in January.
Last month, Samsung told me exclusively that it was giving away the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus for free with qualifying TV purchases. It was also bundled into its new Galaxy Tab S6 Lite with Galaxy S24 purchases in April.
A month before that, the Korean company gave a 10% discount on all Galaxy S24 handsets under its ‘7 days’ promotion, in addition to repeated seemingly arbitrary price cuts over the past six months, and giving away a year’s free subscription to Disney Plus to select Galaxy owners. Throughout all of this, Samsung has offered a 5% discount on all purchases if made through the official app.
Samsung is no stranger to aggressive marketing practices and targeted discounts to upset rivals. In 2015, the company ran a daring “test drive” campaign where iPhone users could trade their Apple phones for a Galaxy Note 5 for a month to see if they liked Samsung’s version of Android. As I reported at the time, it was certainly popular and convinced some iPhone users to cross the floor.
Samsung is still busy attacking its iOS nemesis. The test drive scheme turned into a ‘try galaxy’ app that can be installed on iPhones so iPhone users can see what the Galaxy AI experience is like. This is a key difference between the two ecosystems, as Apple has yet to release its suite of AI tools. Samsung also just released a new video mocking Apple’s poorly received iPad ad, another popular pastime for the Korean company. Old tricks die hard.
I suspect these repeated discounts from Google and Samsung have been popular because neither company is stopping. With Samsung’s summer Galaxy Unpacked Paris event in July, the company will almost certainly have more serious deals in store.
Expect the Galaxy Ring to be available for free in bundles with the new foldable phones and the existing S24 range, alongside aggressive trade-in prices for old iPhones. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Galaxy S24 price took a hit during the July event, perhaps something close to the $200 discount we often see during the Black Friday sale. Pre-order prices for the new Z Fold 5 and Flip will likely be generous as well.
All this is happening in combination with a massive generative AI rollout by the major technology manufacturers. There is an intense battle to assimilate as many people as possible into their respective ecosystems, as companies believe that AI-powered features could lead to paying subscribers for those same features in the future. Just look at Samsung’s warning that its Galaxy AI toolset is only free until the end of 2025.
If AI is a turning point in the history of technology, comparable to the invention of the Web, as some believe, then the aggressive pricing of hardware that acts as a gateway to it makes perfect sense.