Best Galaxy Note 4 price: save £200 just by buying it at the right time

Fancy a Samsung Galaxy Note 4? If you’re willing to wait for a very short time, you’ll save an absolute fortune. In just three months the price is likely to fall by more than one third.

We know you want it, but if you can wait you'll save lots of money. / © ANDROIDPIT

When’s the best time to buy a smartphone or phablet? In the case of Samsung devices such as the Galaxy Note 4, it’s three months after the official launch. If you can keep your powder dry for just 12 weeks you can expect to save a massive 34%. That works out at nearly £200 ($320, €250).

How do we know? Price comparison site Idealo has ran the numbers on other Samsungs - the Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Note 3 - to see how their prices changed over time. In every case the prices plummeted until the three-month mark, at which point they levelled off. The difference between launch day and three months was dramatic, but there wasn’t much change between three and six months.

The numbers are interesting, because it seems that the more Notes Samsung makes, the cheaper they get. When the first Galaxy Note went on sale, it was still selling at 92% of the launch price after three months; at the same point the Galaxy Note 2 was down to 87%, and the Galaxy Note 3 75%. Idealo predicts that the Galaxy Note 4 will be lower still at 64% of the launch price after three months.

Why you shouldn’t rush to buy

It seems that each new Note gets cheaper more quickly. / © ANDROIDPIT

The reason for the price drop is simple enough. It’s good old-fashioned supply and demand. In the early stages of any smartphone or phablet launch there’s lots of pent-up demand and relatively few devices available, so retailers can charge full whack. As demand falls and handsets are no longer so scarce the prices start to fall.

That’s particularly true with Android devices: unlike Apple, where the latest handset stays current for a year, Android manufacturers are constantly leapfrogging each other with newer, better devices. No Android device stays at the top for very long, and that’s fantastic news for buyers because it means that the market is exceptionally competitive.

Idealo’s pricing is based on people buying SIM-free devices, but the price drops apply to contract customers too. On launch day the phone operators know that gadget-crazed Samsung fans will pay a premium to get the handset in a hurry, but three months down the line the competition is fierce and the contract costs plummet.

What do you think? Are you willing to wait to get a much lower price, or is new-phone joy too much of a temptation?

Source fromhttp://www.androidpit.com