We’ve been bringing our readers all the developments on the Samsung Galaxy S3 (S III) smartphone from before it was officially announced and since. Due for a release in some regions at the end of this month and for the US in June it seems rather surprising to hear that it has already gone on sale in Dubai and at a price cheaper than that offered by Amazon.
Only earlier today we told how the Galaxy S3 is set to be a phenomenal hit and yesterday we told how readers in the US could now pre-order the international version of the Galaxy S3 in blue or white from Amazon at a price of $799.99. This unlocked version (GT-i9300) will not be suitable for the Verizon or Sprint networks as it doesn’t support CDMA. It also lacks support for T-Mobile’s HSPA network but is suitable to use on AT&T’s HSPA network so 4G HSPA+ service is available but not its 4G LTE network.
Basically then only AT&T customers will be able to use the unlocked international version and at $799.99 the price means shelling out a pretty hefty sum. News today is rather surprising then as Phone Arena passes on that the Galaxy S3 has already gone on sale in Dubai. This is surprising enough in itself as most of us were under the impression that the UK and Europe release on May 29 would be the first region to see a launch.
Apparently a Reddit user spotted some ads for the phone in a Dubai mall and initially thought it must be just for pre-orders. On questioning this with a sales assistant he found out that the Galaxy S3 was actually in stock for sale and not only this but that the price, equivalent to around $667, was less than that advertised by Amazon. That’s quite a saving on the Amazon price although the Dubai store did only have the Galaxy S3 available in the white color option.
This is rather startling news but of course many potential customers of the Galaxy S3 in the US will probably prefer to wait until the US carrier variants arrive next month anyway. Nevertheless it does seem rather astonishing and does make us wonder if Samsung knows that its flagship smartphone has already hit the shelves in Dubai.
We’d like to hear your thoughts on this. Are you surprised that the Galaxy S3 is already on sale in Dubai? Maybe you’re shocked that the price is so much cheaper than the Amazon pre-order price for the U.S? Let us have your comments about this.
