"Galaxy S24 150,000 Won" Those Who Bought Last Week Became 'Hogang' [Report]

Visiting Seoul's Mobile Phone 'Seongji'
Illegal Subsidies Still Rampant
Cheaper with Expanded Official Support Funds

"Why did you check at such a high price? Today was a jackpot day." (A mobile phone store in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul)

Mobile phone store at Techno Mart, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul
Photo by Lee Seong-min

A mobile phone seller at Techno Mart in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, exclaimed "jackpot." Recently, starting with LG Uplus, SK Telecom and KT also announced plans to increase official subsidies, allowing phones to be sold at cheaper prices. Gangbyeon Techno Mart is known as a so-called "holy ground" because phones can be purchased cheaply through illegal subsidies.

On the morning of the 6th, the 6th floor of Gangbyeon Techno Mart was filled with mobile phone agencies displaying signs saying "Galaxy S24 Maximum Support." As I passed by the sellers sitting in the store, they suddenly approached me saying, "Which model are you looking for?" and "We will give you a good price."

When I told the sellers the phone model and carrier I wanted to buy, they all, as if by agreement, showed me calculators. They wanted me to input the price I was thinking of into the calculator to show them. Under the arm holding the calculator, a paper saying "Absolutely no price mention" was attached to the desk. Not saying the amount out loud is an unwritten rule here. This scene arises because illegal subsidies vary from store to store.

The phone price at these agencies is formed by subtracting official subsidies and illegal subsidies from the retail price. When activating the phone, conditions such as △ maintaining a high-priced plan for 6 months ▲ maintaining subscription to certain additional services for a period ▲ issuing affiliated credit cards are imposed. Seller A hinted, "The illegal subsidies have not yet been reduced in line with the expansion of official subsidies, so now is the cheapest."

Samsung Electronics Galaxy S24 Series / Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

After visiting five agencies, for the Galaxy S24 standard 256GB model, the device could be purchased for a minimum of 150,000 KRW and a maximum of about 300,000 KRW. This is under the condition of maintaining a high-priced plan (for LG Uplus, 105,000 KRW per month) for 6 months and paying for three additional services (about 40,000 KRW per month) for about 4 months. In some cases, issuing a carrier-affiliated credit card even resulted in cash rebates. Considering the retail price of this model is 1,155,000 KRW, this is about 1 million KRW cheaper.

Although using a plan over 100,000 KRW for 24 months is cheaper under the selective contract system, sellers said that if not, buying the device with an immediate discount like this is cheaper.

Also, seller B said, "Normally, this price wouldn't be possible, but today it became possible because the official subsidies increased significantly."

On this day, the three mobile carriers simultaneously raised official subsidies for the Galaxy S24 series. SKT, KT, and LG Uplus decided to provide subsidies ranging from 250,000 to 489,000 KRW, 55,000 to 480,000 KRW, and 155,000 to 500,000 KRW respectively, depending on the plan. On the 2nd, LG Uplus raised the Galaxy S24 official subsidies to about 194,000 to 450,000 KRW, but increased them again after competitors expanded their subsidies.

The industry views this as influenced by the government's push to abolish the Act on the Improvement of Distribution Structure of Telecommunication Devices (Device Distribution Act). The Korea Communications Commission reportedly met twice last month with executives and staff from the three carriers and Samsung Electronics sales to urge the expansion of official subsidies.