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Recent Reviews
Nexus S: Y u so expensive in Malaysia?
Posted:
March 16, 2011
By: ccsoya
34 comments
Maxis has announced that the Nexus S will hit local stores this Friday with a retail price of RM2,499 outright without contract. Immediately we got comments in response to out earlier post saying that the retail price for the Nexus S here is Malaysia is exorbitant.
Consider the math. You can get an unlocked Nexus S from Best Buy in the US for about US$530 which translates to about RM1620 at today’s exchange rates. This is of course, excluding taxes and what not. But even if you factor in all the taxes and shipping costs, a privately purchased — meaning one single unit bought — shouldn’t cost the savvy internet shopper anything more that RM2k tops.
In fact, bulk orders and shipments should yield even more savings.
So our question is why is Maxis and Samsung asking for a close to RM900 margin on top of the US retail price for the Nexus S? If anything, the Malaysian RRP for the Nexus S should be very close to the US price. What justifies the 54% jump in price?
Could it be that because the Nexus S is a fairly decent spec-ed device infused with the strong desirability of the Google branding Maxis and Samsung feel that they can capitalise on the hype and make some money from the huge margins?
We have no idea and we can only speculate at the moment but what is certain is that we don’t think that this should be the case and we hope Maxis and Samsung can give us answer.
What do you think of the price of the Nexus S here in Malaysia
34 Comments for Nexus S: Y u so expensive in Malaysia?
akira2001
These telco thought customers are stupid and don't know how to do math. With RM900 overprice, I guess they never intend to really wanted to sell this phone.
umnoputra
the AP!!!
umnoputra need to make money on everything…
xirus
even lowyat seller sell this deadly cheap. and here I thought with official launch the price would be less than 2k.
@iamapopoki
I don't think Samsung has any control over the commercials terms like where it will be sold and RRP.
KC Cheah
Overpriced or not, I wouldn't touch this Nexus S even with a 10 foot pole. Not when this 2011 is the year of dual cores, quad cores, etc. Single core smartphone are so obsolete, like buying Intel Dual Core 2, when Core i3, i5, or i7 is the entry level now.
Any smartphone or tablet that is not using dual-core or higher, and with speed not higher than 1GHz, forget it. Not value for money anymore. Being 3rd world country doesn't mean we dun deserve the best at reasonable price.
david
Maxis is totally blood sucker!!
goh
Maxis want to rob Android fans.
tcmean
Is Maxis subsidising us or the other way round?
Malcolm Lim
Totally agree..nexus S is overpriced, they should bring it down to 2k maximum since dual cores and quad core mobile processors are going to be out here soon.
dino
I cant agree more, i have been monitoring our android phones price lately compare to like India, US, China and Spore, ours is one of the highest. If we (everyone here) can do something to feedback to our telcos, it will be good to understand why this situation persist.
anyway, i will recommend Samsung Ace as replacement, i am impressed with what samsung has offered! thats we call reasonable price.
kena kantoi
Jangan kena kantoi ya. They think being malaysian can be so narrow minded and stupid.premium brand my foot. I want to see what promotions will go along with it few months down the road. Jualan murah? Kena kantoi la
Yiks
I'm so pissed that I may drop maxis and move over to another service provider.
ros
dulu bukan gov kata ada mcm diskaun2 ke smartphone2. apsal harga tak turun2 pun nih. haiya.
nazzre
i thought malaysia goverment already announce perbelanjaan nagara last year ?? they said no tax for phones anymore.. what a joke.. are we a clown ??
Pakcik Android
lol.maxis sooo lame.better wait for galaxy s II or anything using dual core.2011 is year for dual core.
TKT
Yet, the Maxis Android package is too unattractive. 500MB for RM58? Digi is RM68 for 3GB and no extra charges. Even their iPhone package is better with RM50 for 1GB of data
Maxis is killing Malaysian android market. You want us to become either Apple's slave or Digi loyal customer?
SC, can you please comment this to Maxis on our behalf
Christ
damn overpriced, i thought no taxes for phone? Maxis gonna fail on this 1 again.. stupid!
KohJL
Mobile phone sales tax was abolish, but I'm not sure about import tax and such. Taxes are crazy like that.
BrightLights CatCity
Tax Free or Duty Free does not mean its not PROFIT Free. They can abolish the tax and replace it with more profit. Yeah, you bought a tax free device and made someone laughing all the way to the bank.
samaranda
bros,
that's the price to pay if you wanted a new cutting edge mobile phone…and it doesn't help when telcos are capitalising on that…let's teach 'em a lesson…don't buy anything new that they offered until they put in reasonable prices…it's either the telcos wanted profits fast (after all the promotions for cheap packages) or they just don't value their customer…think about it.
Anon
Three words, mate:
Tariffs and quotas
We typically pay ~30% more than Singapore, which if i am not mistaken imposes no tariffs. Check the pricing of all other smartphones. It's silly. Nothing is stopping us from taking a holiday in Singapore AND buying ourselves a shiny new gadget AND still have some left for a couple nice cups of coffee(or many cups of great Malaysian Kopi 'O!). Except maybe for asymmetric information, or with less jargon, not knowing it is cheaper across the straits.
The 54% premium for the Nexus S is… just wow.
Albert
Then just don't buy it. Maxis won't change the pricings due to complaints. And currently i'm using this phone and it's superb performance beat my previous HTC Desire and Galaxy S. Atleast this phone won't laggy due to those bloatwares from manufacturers.
FYI. galaxy S retail price was RM2599 when released.
soyacincau
Maxis/Samsung will change pricing if sales are poor.
Back when the Galaxy S was launched it was cutting edge with one of the largest Super AMOLED screens in the market and the fastest processor and GPU. Today 1Ghz devices are a dime a dozen and Super AMOLED has hit mass adoption. Why are you still paying top dollar for a phone that's roughly the same as the one that it replaces?
We're not saying that the Nexus S is a bad phone. It is probably one of the best Androids in the market but wait till the likes of the Motorola Atrix and the LG Optimus 2X come into the market then you'll understand that the game has shifted quite a fair bit since the Galaxy S days.
The beauty of technology is that cutting edge stuff gets more affordable for the masses through time, and RM2,499 for the Nexus S is asking waaay too much. For that money you should be getting a dual-core device.
But if you feel that RM2,499 is a fair amount to pay for the Nexus S then good for you. We're happy that you're happy with your purchase
nazzre
Maybe u feel happy for albert when he purchase nexus s for rm 2499. but i think he damn stupid and feel sorrry for him. i better go for motorola atrix which is already in the us market now.
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Albert
Yes. I'm happy to have this Nexus S, compared to my previous Galaxy S. Eventhou Galaxy has slightly same or better spec as Nexus S, But it has severe software problems that cause the lagginess, so we all need to root inorder to use the basic function of the phone.
This definitely not worth even 1K for the slow phone as galaxy S. That's why I'm glad that nexus S really performs real well without the need of Rooting and lagFix. Plus it's a pure google phone that get latest updates from google, Users never need to worry about if their phone buggy , laggy or issues since updates available.
I'm looking forward to Galaxy S 2 too, but no guarantee that they are a good performer, Dual Core not equal to great performance, but it might help on gaming side. I've read a review of LG Optimus 2X, probably from Engadget, saying that It lags on its UI.
Anyways, still hope Maxis could lower their price, so more users are able to enjoy this great phone.
Albert
One more thing, Galaxy S was launched around September 2010, and i got it in November , the retail price was RM2300-2599. Then i changed to Nexus S in End of January. Only a 6months period, guess maxis or others might just havin the similar price as galaxy S. We all think is expensive because there are too many Dual core or higher spec handset announced in the past from MWC. thus this made us feel that should save bucks for even better phone in future, perhaps only will be available in June onwards..
Anon
I think we're saying there's no reason to buy it from Maxis, not that there is no reason to buy it…
soyacincau
Well said. No one is saying that the Nexus S is a bad phone it's just poorly priced. Something somewhere is not right. If HTC can sell the Incredible S at a smidgen below RM2k, why can't Samsung/Maxis offer the Nexus S at the same price — they are after all roughly the same in terms of specs.
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Navid
I am student in malaysia from iran,when i was in my country i was angry about high prices of the phones 
but here maxis sell them even more expensive than my country, why they treat us customers like this? its not fair at all
nexus s is now sth like 2k Rm in iran and i think its reasonable,i hope maxis will sell it at same price so i can buy it.
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It is definitely over price, with that pricing it is better to wait for the Samsung Galaxy S II to release.