Samsung says Galaxy Note 9 will be 'reasonably' priced
Of course, what looks reasonable is in the wallet of the beholder.
A possible Note 9 image.
Update, Aug. 9: The Galaxy Note 9 is now official, and we've gone hands-on. Original story follows.
In its earnings call Tuesday, KyeongTae Lee, Samsung's mobile business head stated "We aim to expand the sales of flagship models via an earlier-than-usual release of a new Galaxy Note, which offers exceptional performance for a reasonable price."
He didn't mention the Galaxy Note 9 by name, but it's no secret that we expect that to be the model announced on Aug, 9 at Samsung's Unpacked event. Samsung announced its new Galaxy Tab S4 tablet today, in advance of Unpacked.
It's equally no secret that Samsung's facing a lot of sales pressure; its earnings were hurt by a slowdown in demand for its newest phones, the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, which included relatively minor tweaks from their predecessors. Revenue in Samsung's mobile division declined 22 percent in the quarter to 22.67 trillion won ($20.2 billion).
And we may have to get used to those minor tweaks. As ZDNet picked up on, Lee also said "Offering more sophisticated specs throughout our lineup will make it difficult to maintain profitability."
A "reasonable" price means different things to different people. When a company factors in all the costs, it may set a price that's reasonable to it given its business constraints, but not reasonable to potential buyers who don't feel compelled to upgrade, or compared to newer, flashier competitors in the same price range.
Price is one of the few things we don't know about the Note 9 yet. Here's everything we do know.
