I bet some smartphone owners can’t wait for the year to be over with. The longtime Galaxy S owners out there due for an upgrade must know that Samsung is rumored to unveil the Galaxy S24 series in just a few weeks.
A mid-January launch translates to preorders kicking off soon after the press event. The Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra should ship to your door and start selling in stores by early February.
We can’t celebrate 2023 away without a last-minute Galaxy S24 leak. And it turns out that the key Galaxy S24 detail that so many loyal fans of the series have been waiting for has leaked again. The Galaxy S24 price should be a great surprise to fans of the series.
After we heard that Samsung wants to keep the price on par with the Galaxy S23 series, there’s even better news. The Galaxy S24 phones will be cheaper than their predecessors. Unfortunately, I fear the leaked price cuts will only apply to one key market, the European Union (EU).
Samsung wants to be competitive
A report a few days ago said that Samsung would keep the Galaxy S23 prices in place for another year. I said at the time that even iPhone users should be excited. The Galaxy S24 will bring over Samsung’s big AI Phone marketing push. Older Galaxy S models will probably support the AI features coming to the Galaxy S24, though some may be exclusive to the new devices.
As such, keeping the price in place means Samsung won’t use the hardware price to pay for what will surely be costly AI features.
Apple’s iPhone 16 series will also herald the age of Apple GPT, and the same logic applies. Apple GPT features will likely be compatible with older hardware, though some might be exclusive to the 2024 phones. Time will tell whether Apple will pass those AI costs down to the buyer via an iPhone price increase or not. But that’s where the Galaxy S24 pricing structure will come in handy.
However, the last Galaxy S24 price leak did not specify actual price points. So, I’ll remind you of last year’s Galaxy S23 prices for the US:
- $799.99: Galaxy S23
- $999.99: Galaxy S23 Plus
- $1,199.99: Galaxy S23 Ultra
Why Europe will get better prices
Dutch language blog GalaxyClub received information about the Galaxy S24 price structure in Holland. It indicates at least two of the three Galaxy S24 phones will be even cheaper than their predecessors.
I’ll quickly remind you how prices work in the EU. First, they should be uniform across the block, with little variance from one member country to the next. Secondly, the EU prices always include VAT. That’s why a conversion to US dollars would not get you the US price for the handset.
The best way to compare the Galaxy S24 price is relative to the iPhone 15 price in the region, which I’ll do below.
That said, here are the rumored prices for the Galaxy S24 series:
- Galaxy S24: 128GB: €899, 256GB: €959
- Galaxy S24+: 256GB: €1,149, 512GB: €1,269
- Galaxy S24 Ultra: 256GB: €1,449, 512GB: €1,569, 1TB €1,809
The iPhone 15 starts at €969, and the cheapest Plus costs $1,119. The iPhone 15 Pro costs €1,229, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at €1,479. Samsung is clearly going for a cheaper price tag here if the leaked prices above are correct.
The Dutch blog notes that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will actually be slightly more expensive than the €1,399 Galaxy S23 Ultra. But Italian-language blog Tutto Android says even the Galaxy S24 Ultra should be €30 cheaper than the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s price for Italy. As I said before, a little price variance is to be expected within the EU.
As exciting as these Galaxy S24 price cuts are, they aren’t likely to apply to the US. And I’ll point to the iPhone 15 series again. Apple dropped the prices of its 2023 flagships in Europe compared to the iPhone 14 series. It’s all thanks to the weaker dollar compared to the Euro.
The stronger dollar forced Apple to increase the iPhone 14 prices in the EU last year compared to the iPhone 13. Apple kept the iPhone price unchanged in the US since the iPhone 13.
I think Samsung will pull off a similar move exactly because it wants to compete better in what could be a recovering smartphone market.
While I think the leaks are genuine, I’m simply speculating. We’ll know everything in a few weeks once Samsung unveils the Galaxy S24 series.
