Demand for the Samsung Galaxy S4 has surged to unprecedented levels for the manufacturer’s launches according to information from Carphone Warehouse.
The retailer reports it has experienced the ‘busiest pre-registration period ever’ and has seen a 446 per cent increase in pre-registrations compared to those surrounding the Galaxy S3 launch in 2012.
Graham Stapleton, Carphone Warehouse’s chief operating officer, said: ‘The Galaxy SIII launch broke records last year and was always going to be a tough one to beat, but the S4 is already proving to be a more than capable step up in the series that will inspire many people to make the switch to Android from other operating systems. This device is the one to watch for 2013.’
Carphone Warehouse will have the Galaxy S4 available from April 26 with contracts across all major UK networks. Pricing is yet to be officially revealed, but a leak from another UK retailer suggests a standard package on T-Mobile for a 16GB model will be around £31 per month with unlimited data, while a SIM-free version will go for £529.
So it’s not exactly cheap, as you might expect, but that doesn’t seem to be putting off potential buyers and some reports suggest many are trading in old hardware to fund the purchase.
Another report has emerged showing that the Galaxy S4 costs more to manufacture than Apple’s iPhone 5, despite having a plastic bodyshell instead of Apple’s aluminium. Much of this cost is said to come from the huge display panel and high-end, next-gen processing hardware.
Oddly enough the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 LTE-enabled Galaxy S4’s destined for the North American market are cheaper to make than those running Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa chip. Samsung’s also pushed the boat out on production cost by stuffing the Galaxy S4 full of all those extra sensors and the infrared TV control functionality.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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