Samsung Galaxy S10 will probably be very, very expensive

Samsung’s new flagship, the Galaxy S10, will likely come in at least three flavors and it will certainly be a very powerful device. We know that much from previous leaks and rumors.

But with Samsung’s mobile phone sales slowing down, will the company make the upcoming flagships cheaper?

According to a new leak, courtesy of young leaker of mobile things, Ishan Agarwal (via Android Authority), the answer is no. 

Agarwal has apparently gotten hold of the price list for the entire new Galaxy S10 lineup in the Netherlands, and the prices are steep. 

According to his list, the Galaxy S10 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage will cost 899 euros ($1,030), while the 8GB/512GB model will cost 1,149 euros ($1,317). 

The larger, Galaxy S10+ model, will come in three flavors: 6GB/128GB for 999 euros ($1,145), 8GB/512GB for 1,249 euros ($1,432), and 12GB/1TB for 1,499 euros ($1,718). 

Finally, the entry-level Galaxy S10e will only come in one flavor — 6GB/128GB — at the price of 749 euros ($859). 

Let’s analyze these number a little. First, the prices are slightly lower than the prices leaked a few weeks ago by Italian site TuttoAndroid, but the differences aren’t huge and could be ascribed to the different markets. 

It’s also worth pointing out that simply converting euro prices to dollars almost never gives you the actual price in the U.S., where the phones will likely be significantly cheaper.

Finally, it’s probably best not to take the S10e pricing into account, as it’s probably not directly comparable to previous models. It makes more sense to compare the S9 with the S10 and the S9+ with the S10+. 

One way to look at these is to compare them with actual prices of the Galaxy S9 and S9+ at launch in the Netherlands, which were 849 euros ($974) and 949 euros ($1,089), respectively. (For reference, in the U.S. the S9 started at $720, while the S9+ started at $840.)

This means that if the leak is accurate, the prices are high — 50 euros or more higher than the what the S9 and S9+ cost at launch. 

There’s another thing we could look at: Price leaks for the S9 and the S9+, which also made the rounds a couple of weeks before the devices were launched. One leak claimed that the S9/S9+ would start at 841 euros ($965) and 997 euros ($1,144), respectively, while another claimed the prices would be 899 euros ($1,031) and 999 euros ($1,146) (in the Netherlands, giving us a good point of reference). 

Granted, it’s a small data sample, but the conclusion is that price leaks tends to overshoot actual prices by a little. But even if we take that into consideration, it’s still unlikely that the Galaxy S10 and S10+ will be any cheaper than last year’s models. And the high-end variants will likely be reserved for the deepest of pockets only. 

Finally, while this leak doesn’t tell us the price of Samsung’s foldable Galaxy F — likely to be announced at the same event as the S10 — previous comments from a Samsung official indicated that it would be twice the price of the S10. Ouch.