Why are Samsung's Galaxy S21 phones cheaper than last year's models? It's because 5G technology got cheaper. (2024)

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• Samsung's Galaxy S21 smartphones start at $799.99 and cost $200 per model less than their predecessors, the Galaxy S20 series.
• The Galaxy S21 phones aren't worse in any way or have fewer features. Rather, 5G technology is the culprit for ultra-expensivesmartphones since the first 5G phones started coming out in 2019.
• 5G tech has matured over time and become cheaper to implement on smartphones, Samsung said.

Samsung's latest Galaxy S21 flagship series of smartphones was released on January 14 with a set of upgrades and updates that's pretty typical year over year on smartphones.

Indeed, the Galaxy S21 series come with the latest specs for maximum performance and the customary camera improvements and features.

A few things popped out about the S21 phones. For one, they come with a fresh new design with that camera module that wraps around the corner of the phone. And, Samsung switched over to a matte texture for the back glass instead of the clear glass from generations of yore.

Also, let's not forget to applaud Samsung for ditching the curved screen edges on the S21 and S21 Plus — something that looks good but serves no purpose and makes the screen look and feel smaller than it is.

However, the most noteworthy element about the Galaxy S21 phones is their new price tags — each model is $200 cheaper at launch than last year's Galaxy S20 series.

The standard Galaxy S21 starts at $800, the Galaxy S21 Plus starts at $1,000, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra starts at $1,200. If you need to remember the price tags for the Galaxy S20 series, just add $200 to each of the S21 prices.

Why do Samsung's latest phones with more tech, performance, and features cost less than last year's?

We wouldn't have been too surprised if the Galaxy S21 series cost the same at launch as the Galaxy S20 series. But here we are — the S21 phones are cheaper, and it's not because they're worse in some way or have fewer features.

There's no catch here. The lower costs are due to the natural maturity of 5G technology over time, Samsung told Insider.

Looking back at the first 5G phones and how much they used to cost, that makes sense. The first phone that supported 5G, a mid-ranger called the Motorola Moto Z3 from 2018, was priced at $480 at launch. To give it 5G connectivity, however, you needed to buy a "mod" that magnetically attached to the back of the Moto Z3 that cost $350. That's an extra $350 just for 5G connectivity, bringing the total cost of the mid-ranger from $480 to $830 — a price no one should be paying for any mid-ranger, 5G or not.

The same goes for 4G LTE phones when they first started to come out. HTC's Thunderbolt was the first handset to connect to LTE networks, and it cost $250 with Verizon's two-year contract (remember those?). That was $50 more than Apple's iPhone 4, also on a two-year contract, which didn't connect to 4G LTE networks.

It's tough to say whether phones will get even cheaper over the next few years due to 5G's maturing process.

With the Galaxy S21 series, we're seeing Samsung's ultra-premium lineup get price cuts. But, it's unclear whether they'll go even lower in the future.

Later this year, we might see more price cuts on "budget-friendly" premium phones, like a cheaper successor to Samsung's Galaxy S20 5G "FE" edition phone that cost $700 — cheap compared to the $1,000 Galaxy S20. That's pure speculation at this point, however.

The Galaxy S21 phones are available for preorder today and will be widely available to buy starting January 29 from Samsung's website, online retailers includingBest Buy, and carriers includingAT&T,Verizon, andT-Mobile.