Samsung was tight-lipped about availability and pricing for its flagship Galaxy S 4 smartphone at its official unveiling earlier this month, aside from a vague promise that the phone would be coming in the "second quarter." Individual carriers are starting to get more specific, though: AT&T has announced that it will begin taking preorders for the phone on April 16, and that it will cost $249.99 with a two-year contract.
This price is slightly higher than what we've come to expect for high-end smartphones—The Galaxy S III and iPhone 5, for instance, both start at $199 with a two-year contract on most major carriers. Other carriers may launch the phone at a lower price; promotions that lower these prices become quite common later on in the lifespan of a handset. AT&T's pricing suggests that most people will have to pay more up-front for an S 4 than they would have for an S III.
BGR reports that T-Mobile will also be offering the phone on or near May 1 for $99.99 up-front plus $20 a month for 24 months. Under this plan, the phone will end up costing you $580 over the course of two years—much closer to the price of a carrier-unlocked handset—but consumers may still come out ahead after taking T-Mobile's new contract-free approach into account.
No one would be surprised if the S 4, with its larger 1080p screen and quad-core SoC, costs more to produce than the S III, but AT&T's slightly increased price may also be reflective of Samsung's (and Samsung's partners') confidence in the company's market position. It will be hard to say for sure before we get pricing information for similarly specced phones like the HTC One.
Update: AT&T has since clarified that the $249 price point applies to the 32GB version of the S 4, while the 16GB version will be available starting from $199. Why they didn't publish the lower price first is anyone's guess.
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