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Galaxy S10E slashed to $550 at Amazon and Best Buy ahead of Samsung price cut

That's $50 below Samsung's not-even-available-yet discount.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read
galaxy-s10e-33

Amazon has already dropped the price of the Galaxy S10E to $550.

Angela Lang/CNET

This week's galaxy of new Samsungs came with a Samsung Galaxy S10 announcement: Price cuts are coming. Not immediately, but soon -- probably when the Galaxy S20 goes on sale next week. You'll be able to save $200 on the S10 and S10 Plus and $150 on the S10E. That will put the latter at $599.

Amazon isn't waiting. For a limited time, and while supplies last, Amazon has the unlocked Galaxy S10E (128GB) in black for $549.99. In case you're bad at math, that's $49 below what Samsung will be charging about a week from now. And if you want it in white or blue, the price is $599.99, effectively matching Samsung -- but without the wait.

For what it's worth, Best Buy also has the Galaxy S10E for $549.99, and if you need service for it and decide to activate with a carrier today, you'll save an additional $50.

OK, but the S10E? Surely that letter tacked onto the end is equivalent to "lite," right? Actually, this model has the same processor and camera as the S10, and in fact the S10E's "fingerprint reader and flat screen solve minor problems with the pricier S10 and S10 Plus."

That's according to Jessica Dolcourt's Galaxy S10E review, which is required reading if you're thinking about this phone. Interestingly, although she actually liked it better than the S10 and S10 Plus in some respects, she concluded it "couldn't beat the OnePlus 6T's $550 price." That was then.

Indeed, earlier today I wrote about a refurbished Galaxy S9 for just $235 (still available, by the way), which illustrates the way these phones get more and more affordable over time. But not everyone is wild about the refurbished option. If you want last year's flagship Galaxy for $300 less than usual, this might be the time to pounce.

Your thoughts?

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