While Q4 sales numbers are starting to trickle out now, we’re seeing that while Nokia’s numbers were all bad (but expected), Samsung’s numbers also weren’t all that exciting. In fact, Samsung declined about 9% compared to the previous quarter. Which is actually a surprise since Q4 was the holiday quarter and the quarter they launched the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear. We haven’t really seen numbers from the other OEMs, but if Samsung had a decline in the fourth quarter, I’d be surprised if their competitors didn’t have a decline either.

So what does all this have to do with the Moto G? Well, as noted by BGR, judging by the numbers from Q4, smartphone vendors will need to start with some new promotions to get their phones and tablets off the shelves and into customers hands. So what does that mean? We may see some really cheap phones this year. How about a Galaxy S4 for $100, or Galaxy S5? BGR also notes that the US mobile carriers have been drifting to the edge of the price war. Since the market is finally getting saturated, both the OEMs and carriers are facing the necessity of price aggregation. T-Mobile probably started this with their Uncarrier moves. So here’s something else you can chalk up to the Uncarrier trying to shake up the industry.

We’ve already been seeing other carriers respond to T-Mobile’s uncarrier initiatives, mostly AT&T, which means we may start to see some better pricing on phones. So instead of seeing on-contract pricing up to $350 for some phones (Sprint Galaxy Note 3 for one), we may see them going the other way. We may be seeing some pretty good discounting wars between both carriers and OEMs. Which is always good for consumers.

How many of you are excited to see prices go down for phones, and possible plans as well? I’d love to see more plans that are competitive with T-Mobile’s prepaid options right now. I’m definitely loving only paying $30/month for phone service. Which is unmatched by all the other carriers right now.

Source: BGR
Image Credit: Geek.com

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Exhibit A -Some Gold phones from Samsungs Past  

Some pundits have been wading into Samsung for "copying Apple" by releasing a gold version of its Galaxy S IV right after Apple released and then quickly sold out of its gold iPhone 5S.
"If recent reports are correct, the demand for the gold version is higher than Apple expected. Of course Samsung wanted in on the action," wrote TechCrunch.

Cult of Android cheekily asks: "does this company [Samsung] have any shame?"
The main theme appears to be that Samsung blatantly copied Apples glorious winning strategy by releasing a gold Galaxy S IV right after Apple.
But if we are going to get into a juvenile peeing contest about gold plated phones, it may surprise commentators to discover it was Apple that copied Samsung.

Exhibit B - Apples Gold color iPhone 5S

Exhibit C - Samsungs Gold Galaxy S4 

Samsung released a gold smartphone in August, weeks before the gold iPhone 5S came out. It was called the Galaxy Golden and it was a pig-ugly hybrid flip phone-smartphone.

It had two 3.7-inch AMOLED displays with WVGA resolution, a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, LTE support, a 1,820 mAh battery and the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system.
But what was more important was that it shipped in a "champagne gold" colour. It seems that Samsung has been thinking about Gold
phones for a while now, long before Apple showed off its first sample.
Then again, like the rectangle with rounded corners, gold isnt really something that belongs to either of the quarrelling companies. Dont expect that to stop them and their fans from fighting about it, though.
Techeye

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