Samsung appears to be having a difficult time in deciding how much it's going to charge for its new flagship smartphone in its home country of South Korea. The country's government is pushing to cut down telecom costs and that initiative is making it difficult for Samsung to set local prices for the Galaxy Note 8.
Samsung hasn't started taking pre-orders for the handset in South Korea as yet. Pre-orders are already live in North America and some markets in Europe. The handset costs around $950 with 64GB of onboard storage in the US. The Galaxy Note 8 will be similarly priced in other markets across the globe.
The company is expected to start taking pre-orders for the Galaxy Note 8 from September 7. It will release the Galaxy Note 8 on September 15, the very same day its new flagship is released in major launch markets.
Industry watchers believe that Samsung is going to set the price tag slightly over 1 million won or $890. It would cost a bit more than the Galaxy Note 7's 988,900 won or $870 starting price last year. It's currently charging 990,000 won or $880 for the Galaxy S8+.
The Galaxy Note 8 will comparatively be cheaper in South Korea if Samsung opts for this price tag. Industry watchers fear that this nominal difference between the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8+ prices might end up cannibalizing the latter's sales in favor of the Galaxy Note 8.
Samsung's mobile chief DJ Koh has already said that the company will try to price the Galaxy Note 8 below the one million won mark as it doesn't wish to make the new flagship too expensive for the average customer.
