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- Dubai 04:36 05:52 12:21 15:49 18:45 20:02
FILE- In this Feb. 23, 2015, file photo, two new Samsung phones, Galaxy S6, top left, and Galaxy S6 Edge, to right, are on display with choice of color selections at a special media preview in New York. Orders for Samsung’s Galaxy S 6 phones start Saturday, March 28, 2015, with delivery around April 10. (AP)
The timing is spot-on.
As the Cupertino-based Apple Inc. gets ready to launch its next spearheads, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus (or iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, as the case may be), arch-rival Samsung Electronics has announced a ‘price adjustment’ for its own spearheads, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.
Following that global announcement last week, a Samsung official in Dubai has confirmed to this website that the prices of the two devices are set to be slashed by the end of this month (August) and that the decline will be in line with the global price-cut.
“Any global price adjustment will reflect across the globe, including in the UAE,” Hayssam Yassine, Head of IT and Mobile Team, Samsung Gulf Electronics, told Emirates 24|7.
“It will be applicable across the market,” he specified, “hopefully this month.”
Asked how much will the prices drop in the UAE, Yassine reiterated that any drop will be standardised across all of Samsung’s markets.
“The price-drop will be similar across the globe,” he notes. “That will be applicable here too.”
So far, Samsung Netherlands seems to be the only country to have announced a price-cut, with the price of the Galaxy S6 being slashed by €100 and that of its more expensive cousin by €150.
This implies that the UAE prices should go down by Dh400 for the Galaxy S6 and Dh600 for the Galaxy S6 edge, given the euro-dirham exchange rate.
The official launch price of the Galaxy S6 in the UAE was Dh2,599 (32GB), and that of the Galaxy S6 edge was Dh3,099 (32GB) even as Emirates 24|7 found at least three online retailers selling the Galaxy S6 for less than Dh1,800.
Online retailer Wadi is retailing it for Dh1,798 while Crazy Deals is offering the Galaxy S6 for Dh1,799.
A host of other online retailers are selling the Galaxy S6 for under Dh2,000, including MobileShop.ae for Dh1,828, Jado Pado for Dh1,829 and Souq.com for Dh1,949.
As for the Galaxy S6 Edge, we found only one retailer selling it for under-Dh2,000. Online retailer Souq.com is offering the dual-curved device for Dh1,989.
Further, Mike-n-Smith is offering the S6 Edge for Dh2,030 while Souq Baba is retailing it for Dh2,045.
“The mobile business plans to firmly maintain its sale of premium smartphones by flexibly adjusting the price of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, and launching a new model with a larger screen,” Samsung had noted last week in its financial guidance for the second half of 2015.
Despite being a marked improvement over its predecessor, Samsung’s Galaxy S6 smartphone has failed to bump up the firm’s financial fortunes in part because of the huge marketing spend that it undertook to promote its new devices as well as a demand-supply mismatch.
“Despite the launch of Galaxy S6, improvement to earnings was quite marginal due to low smartphone shipments and an increase in marketing expenses for new product launches,” Samsung said.
The South Korean firm claims that it has now overcome mass-manufacturing hurdles of the curved-glass Galaxy S6 edge.
“Supply issues concerning the Galaxy S6 edge have been addressed. Moreover, the IM Division plans to enhance efficiency across the board, including product line-ups, marketing and R&D,” the firm says.
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