Galaxy S21 Starting Price from 990,000 KRW... Charger Excluded (Comprehensive)

Confirmed at 999,000 KRW... First 5G Flagship Under 1 Million KRW
Charger and Earphones Excluded from Package... Following Apple's Lead

Galaxy S21 360-degree image (Source=Roland Quant Twitter)

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The price of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S21 has been set at 999,900 KRW. This is Samsung Electronics' strategy to increase sales by lowering the price. However, the Galaxy S21 package will no longer include a charger and earphones.

According to the telecommunications industry on the 13th, the Galaxy S21, which will start pre-orders on the 15th, has been priced at 999,900 KRW. The Galaxy S21 Plus is priced at 1,199,000 KRW, the Galaxy S21 Ultra 256GB at 1,452,000 KRW, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra 512GB at 1,599,400 KRW.

The first Samsung 5G flagship under 1 million KRW

This is the first time Samsung Electronics has released a 5G flagship product priced under 1 million KRW in the domestic market. Although the Galaxy S20 FE, released in October last year, was priced at 899,800 KRW, its specifications were lower than those of the regular flagship models.

Samsung Electronics is taking a bold step by lowering the Galaxy S21's price to below 1 million KRW. Considering that the previous Galaxy S20 was priced at 1,248,500 KRW, the Galaxy S20 Plus at 1,353,000 KRW, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra at 1,595,000 KRW, this represents a price reduction of about 150,000 to 240,000 KRW. The pre-order performance of the Galaxy S20 series, which was only 60-80% of its predecessor, also significantly influenced the price cut.

Galaxy S21 Ultra 360-degree image (Source: Roland Quant Twitter)

Apple's iPhone 12 series, priced as low as 950,000 KRW, also likely played a role that Samsung Electronics could not ignore. According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, Apple recorded a 19.2% share of the 5G smartphone market just two months after the iPhone's release last year, surpassing Samsung Electronics' 15.1% and rising to second place.

Samsung Electronics is also known to have lowered the specifications compared to the previous model while reducing the Galaxy S21's price. The Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21+ displays support FHD+ resolution, which is lower than the previous model's (QHD+), and come with 8GB of RAM. The Galaxy S20+ had 12GB of RAM.

Slimmer package without charger and earphones

Galaxy S21+ package (Source: Evan Blass Twitter)

The Galaxy S21 will no longer include the bundled charger and wired earphones. According to images of the Galaxy S21 package released by Roland Quandt, editor of German IT media WinFuture, the package has been simplified compared to previous products due to the exclusion of the charger and earphones. Roland Quandt explained, "The Galaxy S21 package includes only a USB-C cable, a quick start guide, and a SIM ejector pin."

Samsung Electronics will release the Galaxy S21 series without power adapters and wired earphones in most countries. This follows Apple's move to exclude chargers and earphones from all iPhone packages after the launch of the iPhone 12. Previously, Samsung did not include AKG wired earphones in the Galaxy Note20 package released in the U.S. in August last year.

Manufacturers cite environmental protection and resource waste reduction as reasons. Despite consumer backlash, strong incentives to exclude chargers include production cost savings, reduced shipping costs, and pricing advantages. Excluding chargers and earphones reduces package size, helping to lower shipping costs. It also helps reduce factors that increase smartphone prices. Additionally, it boosts sales of charging accessories such as wireless charging pads.

On the other hand, from the user's perspective, there are criticisms that the cost is shifted to consumers who must purchase charger adapters separately. If purchasing Samsung's charging adapters separately, consumers must pay 19,000 KRW for the 15W version and 30,000 KRW for the 25W version.