The Samsung Galaxy S4 hits T-Mobile on May 1, and now AT&T has announced the new smartphone will be available for pre-order starting Apr. 16 for $249.99 with a two-year contract.
No word on exactly when the Galaxy S4 will be in stock, though it seems likely AT&T will try to match T-Mobile's release date. During last year's Galaxy S3 release, T-Mobile beat out AT&T by two weeks.
$250 is a fair bit more expensive than most phones these days. The iPhone 5 and BlackBerry Z10 cost $200 with a two-year contract, so AT&T is betting consumers will be willing to pay a premium for the latest Samsung flagship phone.
Of course, this could also mean the next iteration of the iPhone, due out later this year, will also be $250, signaling an increase in price for high-end phones.
But T-Mobile's new pricing structure could prevent that. The company is offering many of its phones, including the Galaxy S4, for $99 down and a $20 monthly payment for two years. The other carriers don't explicitly charge a phone payment each month, but the calling plan prices are inflated to cover it, so that's all a wash anyway.
If U.S. customers get used to $99 phones, there could be a backlash against AT&T's higher prices.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 1.6GHz eight-core Exynos 5 Octa processor or a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (depending on country), 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch 1920x1080 Full HD AMOLED display at 441 ppi, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video, a 2-megapixel front facing camera, internal storage between 16 and 64GB, an SD card slot that can accommodate an additional 64GB, a polycarbonate body, Smart Pause and floating touch tech and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
Check back for the latest info on the Galaxy S4 as it becomes available.
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