Why is the Nokia Lumia 830 so expensive?

[kevm14]

My humble request to all those actually defending Microsoft/Nokia for their pricing is to please STOP.

Another lengthy diatribe from someone who clearly hasn't used the phone. It's the build quality, feel, features, the camera and overall balanced characteristics that make it an affordable flagship. I am expecting to see the phone on AT&T for $299 and if it's $499, then I take back everything I said. I am not defending the price in some random part of the world. I can't keep track of all the local market conditions nor do I care.

The most irrational thing to say is that despite S400, 830 is quite snappy. Hello... so is the Lumia 530, 630 and 730

The 1GB phones are performing noticably better than the 512MB phones, particularly when you begin to run a few things (resuming screens, etc.). The 735 should perform about the same as the 830, but you get half the storage, and inferior camera, smaller screen. So clearly the 830 is worth more money than the 735. I have no interest in the 735.

Look, I'm sorry the 830 doesn't get you all excited because it's not sold at cost for $250 off contract with Snapdragon 801 but how about I humbly request you stop insisting that the "specs to price ratio" is the single most important metric when buying a phone. It's not, unless you just came through a time machine.

 

[Exoma]

Okay, everyone. Can we please view this from the Canadian perspective? Those who have attacked me for thinking this is too expensive keep saying the phone will be $299.

Rogers has released the phone today and guess what, it's $400. Can we please stop pulling $299 out of our butts? This is a $400 Lowe powered phone.

 

[sahib lopez]

Okay, everyone. Can we please view this from the Canadian perspective? Those who have attacked me for thinking this is too expensive keep saying the phone will be $299.

Rogers has released the phone today and guess what, it's $400. Can we please stop pulling $299 out of our butts? This is a $400 Lowe powered phone.

299 on contract on att. It's a speculation


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[hcrick]

My humble request to all those actually defending Microsoft/Nokia for their pricing is to please STOP.
There is no way you would convince anyone by any kind of argument. The most irrational thing to say is that despite S400, 830 is quite snappy. Hello... so is the Lumia 530, 630 and 730. Why call 830 a 'affordable flagship' when it is neither affordable nor flagship? I have given comparison with Moto-G on several forums. It has similar specs and comes at half the price. Nexus-5 has better specs than 930 and comes at less than two-thirds of the price.
Moreover these phones run on android which is a far more accepted OS worldwide. You are not Apple that people will pay premium just for the 'snob value'. You are targeting consumers at the lower end of price range but want to price like market leaders i.e. Samsung and Apple.
I am deeply saddened at the fact that Microsoft is not using its deep pockets to reduce prices and gain market share. 830 and 930 have not set any sales chart on fire and they never will at these price points. 930 should be at 830's price point and 830 should be at-least 30% cheaper for people to have a look at these. Otherwise, the sales will be as low as ever and with increasing market size the market share will continue to shrink : as is the case over the past year or so.

As you say, Microsoft is not Apple or Samsung and unlike Apple and Samsung (or Moto) Microsoft must be mindful not to alienate other OEM's. Apple, Samsung, Moto all compete against each other and would love to eliminate the competition because they're not relying on any one else to support and propagate their platform or services. Microsoft needs OEM's in order to grow their market share, which is why they can't dump the 830 on the market for $250. At that price point how or why would any other manufacturer compete?

 

[sahib lopez]

My humble request to all those actually defending Microsoft/Nokia for their pricing is to please STOP.
There is no way you would convince anyone by any kind of argument. The most irrational thing to say is that despite S400, 830 is quite snappy. Hello... so is the Lumia 530, 630 and 730. Why call 830 a 'affordable flagship' when it is neither affordable nor flagship? I have given comparison with Moto-G on several forums. It has similar specs and comes at half the price. Nexus-5 has better specs than 930 and comes at less than two-thirds of the price.
Moreover these phones run on android which is a far more accepted OS worldwide. You are not Apple that people will pay premium just for the 'snob value'. You are targeting consumers at the lower end of price range but want to price like market leaders i.e. Samsung and Apple.
I am deeply saddened at the fact that Microsoft is not using its deep pockets to reduce prices and gain market share. 830 and 930 have not set any sales chart on fire and they never will at these price points. 930 should be at 830's price point and 830 should be at-least 30% cheaper for people to have a look at these. Otherwise, the sales will be as low as ever and with increasing market size the market share will continue to shrink : as is the case over the past year or so.

How can the 830 set the sales record on fire when I just came out in some markets ?? And also agin why are there comparisons to the Moto just because specs ? . So while you go on and saying we should stop I'll be enjoying my 830 that I know it's priced well. Also you should try out the phone before you go on saying it's not worth it


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[hcrick]

Okay, everyone. Can we please view this from the Canadian perspective? Those who have attacked me for thinking this is too expensive keep saying the phone will be $299.

Rogers has released the phone today and guess what, it's $400. Can we please stop pulling $299 out of our butts? This is a $400 Lowe powered phone.

Have you seen one? It's not on their site yet.

 

[kevm14]

Rogers has released the phone today and guess what, it's $400. Can we please stop pulling $299 out of our butts? This is a $400 Lowe powered phone.

I don't know anything about the Canadian market and I never intended to speculate about the Canadian market. Here's a request: if someone gives a price, and there's no region associated with the price, guess what, assume it's US. Why? This is a US-based site.

What does $400 buy you for other Windows Phones? How much is a 930? 1520? Through the carrier, not on eBay.

 

[Exoma]

Canada doesn't have the 930 or 1520.

The Windows Phone situation in Canada is disgusting...

Carriers only carry the Lumia 520 and 635.

 

[hcrick]

Canada doesn't have the 930 or 1520.

The Windows Phone situation in Canada is disgusting...

Carriers only carry the Lumia 520 and 635.

Could not agree more.

 

[D M C]

I just came up with new theory

L830 is expensive because MS no longer want WP to expand.
From now on MS want WP to be a niche product.

That's the reason L830 is ridiculously overpriced phone.

 

[Dustmills]

I don't know anything about the Canadian market and I never intended to speculate about the Canadian market. Here's a request: if someone gives a price, and there's no region associated with the price, guess what, assume it's US. Why? This is a US-based site.

What does $400 buy you for other Windows Phones? How much is a 930? 1520? Through the carrier, not on eBay.

A 635 is around $200 in Canada depending on the carrier. Expansys offers the 930 for $600 CDN, but it's an international version that only works on LTE where 2600MHz is available (So, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, pretty much). I don't really see $400 as completely unreasonable for the 830 considering our climate of carrier dominance.

I don't imagine it would be cheaper even if Microsoft sold it unlocked on their store. The 1020 is still $550 on the canadian store and the 635 is $250. It's probably because the carriers won't let them sell it for cheaper then they do.

 

[kevm14]

A 635 is around $200 in Canada depending on the carrier. Expansys offers the 930 for $600 CDN, but it's an international version that only works on LTE where 2600MHz is available (So, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, pretty much). I don't really see $400 as completely unreasonable for the 830 considering our climate of carrier dominance.

I don't imagine it would be cheaper even if Microsoft sold it unlocked on their store. The 1020 is still $550 on the canadian store and the 635 is $250. It's probably because the carriers won't let them sell it for cheaper then they do.

Thank you. That's what I thought. For the 635, compare to a US off contract price (regularly available at Walmart) of $99 for either the AT&T or T-Mobile version, and you can understand why I think the 830 will be in the range of $299 in the US.

We can talk about business strategies but at the end of the day, we want to be able to complain on a forum and have the result be a cheaper phone. That's not how it works. Don't like the price, don't buy it. That's what I'm going to do. If this phone is $400 off contract, I'm not buying it.

 

[ACump]

Exactly.
In a new Guinness record, Microsoft launches the Lumia 830 in Spain to 557 dollars (? 439).

No comments

 

[Dustmills]

Thank you. That's what I thought. For the 635, compare to a US off contract price (regularly available at Walmart) of $99 for either the AT&T or T-Mobile version, and you can understand why I think the 830 will be in the range of $299 in the US.

We can talk about business strategies but at the end of the day, we want to be able to complain on a forum and have the result be a cheaper phone. That's not how it works. Don't like the price, don't buy it. That's what I'm going to do. If this phone is $400 off contract, I'm not buying it.

$299 sounds about right. You guys tend to get phones for around $100 less then we do. The Moto X is $600 here, for instance.

 

[Exoma]

Actually, the 635 is only $149 off contract at the Microsoft store in canada....

 

[kevm14]

Actually, the 635 is only $149 off contract at the Microsoft store in canada....

It's $99 at the US MS Store. By those ratios that would put the 830 at $265. That is more support for my $299 estimate.

 

[Dustmills]

Actually, the 635 is only $149 off contract at the Microsoft store in canada....

Off contract for Rogers, which means it's locked. Unlocked it's still $249, I'm looking at it right now.

 

[kevm14]

Off contract for Rogers, which means it's locked. Unlocked it's still $249, I'm looking at it right now.

The $299 US price I expect for AT&T is a locked price (but off contract). I'm fine with locked, because I use AT&T. "Locked" phones can still be used on MVNOs as long as you are on the right parent network, so it's hardly a constraint, imo.

 

[Van Damme]

I get so mad seeing how people only look at the processor and ram used and compare this phone with the Moto G who is being subsidized by Google.

All i know is that MicrosoftNokia could only put a Snapdragon S400 with 1gb of ram cause that is the only processor available for midrange devices. Despite the moaning for a Snapdragon 600, it can't be done as that was a 2013 processor that Qualcomm discontinued. No one uses that processor anymore on any price level. As for the new s615 it's a 64 bit processor that windows phone doesn't support yet. Wp is always 6 months-1 year late in the spec race. I didn't hear this type of moaning when the lumia 920, 8x and ativ s were released with dual core processors while the rest of industry was already pushing with quad cores.

Right now a s400 with 1 gb of ram is more than adequate on windows phone and the only option for wp mid-rangers, that's why the 830 and 730 share internals ( it's still better than last year when the 520/620 and 720 were identical in specs).

The price for the 830 is the same as the HTC Desire 816 at launch day(in my country at least, i live in europe). it's also 30 bucks cheaper than the HTC One Mini 2. Sonys midrangers are in the same price points. And those are the real competition in specs and price. The only reason why Moto G is so cheap is because of Google. I doubt Lenovo will continue with this strategy.

And as a last point, the specs aren't exactly identical with the Moto G, this hero phone that most people compare it too on price.
The 830 comes with
-16 gb of storage( versus 8 on the base model of the Moto G, and 16 if you pay extra).

-it supports 128 gb sd cards versus the Moto G 32 gigs..

-It has a bigger battery.

-It has 3 microphones with high amplitude recording.

-the camera isn't an off the shelf unit. it's developed by Nokia, it has a premium Zeiss lens, optical image stabilization 10 mp versus the mediocre 8 mp in the G.

-the displays are the same 5 inch 720p,probably same panel, but Nokia put supersensitive touch on it, the clearblack filter, it supports glance and double tap to wake.

-the phone is slimmer, thinner by 2 and a half milimeters.

-it has wireless charging

-and a premium feel because of the aluminium band.

And i won't even mention the phone that will still get updates in 2016 versus the one that wont and the ability to install apps on the sd card courtesy of the os. So yeah that price point is god damn justified, and if you wait 2 months for it to lose between 50 and 100 bucks it will be even more attractive

 

[sahib lopez]

I get so mad seeing how people only look at the processor and ram used and compare this phone with the Moto G who is being subsidized by Google.

All i know is that MicrosoftNokia could only put a Snapdragon S400 with 1gb of ram cause that is the only processor available for midrange devices. Despite the moaning for a Snapdragon 600, it can't be done as that was a 2013 processor that Qualcomm discontinued. No one uses that processor anymore on any price level. As for the new s615 it's a 64 bit processor that windows phone doesn't support yet. Wp is always 6 months-1 year late in the spec race. I didn't hear this type of moaning when the lumia 920, 8x and ativ s were released with dual core processors while the rest of industry was already pushing with quad cores.

Right now a s400 with 1 gb of ram is more than adequate on windows phone and the only option for wp mid-rangers, that's why the 830 and 730 share internals ( it's still better than last year when the 520/620 and 720 were identical in specs).

The price for the 830 is the same as the HTC Desire 816 at launch day(in my country at least, i live in europe). it's also 30 bucks cheaper than the HTC One Mini 2. Sonys midrangers are in the same price points. And those are the real competition in specs and price. The only reason why Moto G is so cheap is because of Google. I doubt Lenovo will continue with this strategy.

And as a last point, the specs aren't exactly identical with the Moto G, this hero phone that most people compare it too on price.
The 830 comes with
-16 gb of storage( versus 8 on the base model of the Moto G, and 16 if you pay extra).

-it supports 128 gb sd cards versus the Moto G 32 gigs..

-It has a bigger battery.

-It has 3 microphones with high amplitude recording.

-the camera isn't an off the shelf unit. it's developed by Nokia, it has a premium Zeiss lens, optical image stabilization 10 mp versus the mediocre 8 mp in the G.

-the displays are the same 5 inch 720p,probably same panel, but Nokia put supersensitive touch on it, the clearblack filter, it supports glance and double tap to wake.

-the phone is slimmer, thinner by 2 and a half milimeters.

-it has wireless charging

-and a premium feel because of the aluminium band.

And i won't even mention the phone that will still get updates in 2016 versus the one that wont and the ability to install apps on the sd card courtesy of the os. So yeah that price point is god damn justified, and if you wait 2 months for it to lose between 50 and 100 bucks it will be even more attractive

well said... someone had to say it !