Only three months after the launch of Samsung Galaxy Note3 in Kenya, the price of the high end phablet has dropped by more than 26%. Samsung launched the phone in early October last year at a price point of Ksh 80,000, a price that many buyers thought was way too expensive. The previous Note device, the Samsung Galaxy Note II, had been launched at a mere Kshs 61,000 making Samsung Galaxy Note 3 be 31% expensive compared to Note II.
But I had advised our readers to never hurry in buying high end gadgets especially smartphones at launch. If you bought the phone in the launch week, you must have spent Kshs 80,000 on the Note 3. However, if you waited for about two weeks before buying, you likely saved Kshs 5,000 as retailers like FoneXpress were selling the device at Kshs 75,000 two weeks after launch.
Then if you waited for two months to buy the phone in December especially around the Christmas season, you could have saved Kshs 10,000 as a number of shops had dropped their prices for the Samsung Galaxy Note3 to prices close to Kshs 70,000. But the saving you could have had if you waited to buy the phone now is amazing.
Yesterday I received an email from Chaflin Ltd detailing their offer prices for various phones, software and phablets. One of the phones I was interested in is the Note 3. Their price offer for January is Kshs 59,000. I checked their price offer against Jumia’s and it seems they aren’t kidding as Jumia is selling theirs at Kshs 59,999 down from their December price of Kshs 70,000. The current price of the Note 3 means that Samsung has removed the Kshs 20,000 it added to the Note at launch.
The Samsung Galaxy Note3 isn’t old at all. A phone that was introduced in the global market in mid September 2013 is not expected to have had its price drop that much in under four months. The high rate of price drop makes the pricing at launch suspect.
When we talked about the price of the Samsung Galaxy Note3 at launch we reasoned that the high pricing could be due to the VAT bill that was imposed by the new Government on all ICT products. Without the VAT, the phone could have been launched at about Kshs 65,000 meaning it could be selling for about Kshs 48,000 right now if it were to maintain the same price drop rate.
But that still does not explain the price of Samsung Galaxy Note2 that has dropped by only 29.5% since launch to date yet the phone has existed for close to 18 months. The Samsung Galaxy Note2 was launched at Kshs 61,000 and today the phone is selling for Kshs 43,000. This implies Note 2’s price has dropped by about Shs 1,000 ONLY every month. If the same price drop rate was to be expected on the Note3, then the Note3 price ought to be about Kshs 76,000 today, not the Kshs 59,000 it is currently retailing for.
Given the above facts, it seems Samsung Galaxy Note3 was over priced at launch and hopefully Samsung won’t do the same mistake at the launch of this year’s anticipated Samsung S5 due this month and the Samsung Galaxy Note IV due later in the year.
If the anticipated high end devices from Samsung will be over priced, I’ll advice you to wait for about three or so months before you buy any of them.
Between Note 2 and Note 3, which one would you recommend that I buy at the moment?
When it comes to features Note3 has a lot more to offer compared to Note2. Note3’s leather back cover also means it is of a higher premium quality (increased durability) and its physical size is slightly smaller than Note2 making it easier to use as a phone. Price wise, Note3 is supposed to be selling at Kshs 64K VAT exclusive so Kshs 59K means you’ll get a better bargain on Note3 than on Note2. So yes, go for Note3.