Sprint, AT&T and Verizon customers used to have to pay $128 for an iPhone 5 with a two-year tie in, but it’s now $98 for the 16GB version. The Verizon or AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 used to cost $168 and $148, but it’s now $138.
The iPhone 5S and 5C squashed down the price of the iPhone 5, so unless you simply must have the latest handsets, you should bag one of these bargains.
Techies have compared and contrasted the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S4, and both phones have their fans and their detractors. They might not understand what’s under the hood, but they know what they get from the phone.
For seamless performance, you’ll need the iPhone 5, but for personalisation, it’s Android. This is the key difference between the two.
You should also think about the cost of production, because this affects the retail price.
The Galaxy S4 sold well and competed well against the iPhone 5, but the iPhone 5 does cost less to make, which is an advantage.
HIS iSuppli says that the production costs vary a lot between the two devices. Apple likes to make a profit and the company is ahead in pricing and innovation.
The 16GB, 4G Galaxy S4 can cost $244 without subsidies. The handset materials cost $236 and labour costs $8.50. This is $48 more than the iPhone costs to make. The Galaxy S4 16GB LTE costs $3 less to make.
A senior analyst for cost benchmarking at IHS pointed said: “Although [the S4’s] hardware is not radically different from the Galaxy S III introduced in April of 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S4 includes some critical component updates that enhance its functionality as well as its BOM cost. Among the upgrades are a larger, full high-definition display; a beefed-up Samsung processor; and a wealth of new sensors that set a record high for the number of such devices in a smartphone design.”
