High end smartphones from the leading manufacturers can be quite pricey if you’re attempting to purchase them off contract at full cost. Whether it may surprise you or not, phones from companies like LG and Samsung which are both located in South Korea, more specifically the Galaxy Note 3 and the LG G Pro 2 can cost even more at full price than they do here in the states. The good news though is that typically smartphone OEMs sometimes end up lowering the factory costs of high end flagships once they become a little older. This typically happens when newer flagships are about to launch or close to being released in the near future which makes perfect sense so the companies can clear out stock before the new phones hit the market.
According to the ZDNet Korea both Samsung and LG are gearing up to do some price cuts on both the LG G Pro 2 and the Galaxy Note 3 soon, bringing the factory costs down in their home country of South Korea. Currently the regular cost of the LG G Pro 2 in South Korea is 999,000 won which is equal to around $982 here in the U.S. although that wasn’t the actual full cost here. According to the source LG will soon be lowering the price from 999,000 won to 799,700 won which is about $786, giving the phone an almost $200 drop by U.S. currency exchange rate standards. That’s not a bad factory price cut at all, and certainly better than the price drop that Samsung is doing for the Galaxy Note 3 in the region.
Currently the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 goes for 1,067,000 won in South Korea, which is about $1,049 here in the U.S. with the exchange rate. That’s about $70 more than the original factory cost of the LG G Pro 2 with the exchange rate from won to USD. According to the same source though, Samsung is also going to be lowering the price of the Galaxy Note 3 from the initial factory cost to 950,000 won which would be about $933 USD. That’s still $147 more than the LG G Pro 2 according to these figures, and still outrageously priced it seems when you factor what we would pay for both these phones here. Despite the higher cost in the country where these phones are manufactured, a price cut is a price cut. Hopefully, both Samsung and LG will end up facilitating price drops on both these devices in other regions as well.