Gadgetory

welcome back to Android QA my name is Jason this is where we try and answer your most pressing Android questions and today is not just about why smart phones are so expensive but what you can do to get the best bang for your buck now if you think your smart phone is expensive check out this puppy it's called the savelii Jordan secret and it's no secret because it starts at nine thousand dollars starts at nine thousand dollars with that you get iguana leather 18 karat gold it's ceramic and of course diamonds for that amount of money it should grow my hair back so I look like a brownie but when it comes to smartphone pricing there's really one paramount question and it's this with smartphones that are upwards from six to eight hundred dollars or more why is it that we have tablets that use more resources larger screens and our far less mainstream but are yet less expensive than smaller smartphones listen to what one Asus executive said to that very question with small devices asus is regional director Jonathan San table said often there's more engineering development and testing required to shrink down the components without affecting the heating for example and still offering the best performance I think the development and tooling costs are also slightly higher hmm question is do you buy it no I don't this may have been somewhat true in the earlier stages of smartphone development by by today's standards so many people are buying smart phones it's like the number one electronic purchase around the world you're buying people are buying more smart phones more frequently than they do laptops televisions cameras anything economies of scale have to play a significant role in reducing the manufacturing costs of these smartphone devices so why are they so high simple supply and demand and for those of you who haven't studied business yet this is the definition of supply and demand supply is the amount of something that is available demand is how much of that thing people want to buy smartphones are hard to make and manufacture it takes a lot of time research and engineering skill to produce it it's not like Fez dispensers that we can make for cheap and sell at the dollar store on the other hand we have a ravenous insatiable appetite for smartphones and we will therefore pay almost anything that the manufacturer asks us to pay simple supply and demand that's why smart phones cost the way they do but there are ways to minimize that cost and it works like this here's an example take a 32 gigabyte galaxy s5 which is water-resistant and features a heart rate monitor and fingerprint scanner it costs two hundred and fifty six dollars and fifty two cents to build according to a teardown done by IHS and it's selling for around six hundred fifty off contract in the US that's a three hundred ninety three dollar profit or a forty percent markup now to be fair we're not factoring in research and development supply chain management and of course marketing but still that's a lot of cheddar now I know it's some of you are thinking you're thinking Jase I can go to my local AT&T retail shop or my own carrier and buy the Samsung Galaxy s5 a great phone for 200 bucks $1.99 on contract I got a great phone affordable price I'm ready to rock and roll mmm no my friends you were caught in the matrix wake up you are getting milked you're getting bled dry exactly how much will differ depending on the phone and your carrier and your plan so you need to do the math yourself but this is how it worked for me now I won't bore you with the math for me but it turns out that over a two-year period alone I've saved over $600 getting the nexus 5 off contract than I would buying a new flagship phone from a carrier like I did with the original Galaxy Note yeah they bled me really really good and that was a three year contract so that was close to $900 that I was bled not good so rule number one buy off contract buy a Nexus device if you can afford it three hundred fifty bucks or four hundred bucks if you want the 32 gigabyte model like I did and if that's too much for you can't save up for a few months for that consider the Moto e at 130 bucks it's hard to go wrong I bought the Moto G for my teenagers and it's almost as powerful in the Nexus 5 the Moto e has gotten great reviews it's not a super powerful phone but it's a very very decent phone for the price and if you're in India or any of the other Android 1 countries you have a many more options for a hundred to $130 smart phone check those out don't give in the carrier evilness and buy into a contract you're going to be bled and blood bad and the final way to save a lot of money on a decent Android phone is to buy off eBay from a reputable seller a seller who cares about the reputation and can sell you a use phone that is still of good quality it's a great way to get a cheap used phone off contract alright thanks for watching edward army my name is Jase love to connect with you right here on Google+ or Twitter I would still love some more suggestions on what more topics I should cover for Android q and A's I'm running out of inspiration I need some help so put them in the comments below I will read them I can't respond to them although don't forget about my brothers and Android jaws Joe and the tech ninja Kevin Laurel and Chris I'm working really hard for the best content on the web see you next week on Android QA