Google has marked down prices of its Moto X Phones by almost $150.
On Wednesday, Google’s Motorola Department has marked down the price of its flagship smartphone beating up its rivals, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to a blog post, the company decided to slash the the price of its 16GB Moto X to $399 from $550 with no contract, and it seems like it is not a temporary offer.
With the marked down price, the Moto X will be considerable more affordable than Samsung’s 16-gigabyte Galaxy S4 that amounts to $600 and Apple’s 16-gigabyte iPhone 5S that costs $650 -- both with no contract -- at Verizon Wireless.
The price cut is a part of the marketing plan laid out by Dennis Woodside, Motorola’s Chief Executive, to undercut its competitors.
Google’s Moto X, for the meantime, is only sold in the United States, as well as the price cut down.
Considering the whole cost of the internal components of Moto X, which is roughly $200, the smartphone will surely have a considerably slimmer profit margin than its rival, Samsung, which Galaxy S4’s internal components is worth roughly the same as Moto X’s, said TechInsights.
Experts believe that low off-contract pricing is expected to have a greater impact outside the U.S., where a bigger share of smartphone users chooses to purchase off-contract smartphones, instead of signing for wireless contracts.
Strategy Analysts estimates that since the Motorola sold only about 500,000 in the third quarter, following its August release, the offer could be a good effort to pump up its sales.
A spokesperson for Motorola declined to comment on the sales statistics.
Motorola's lower-end Moto G phone, which was launched in November, amounts to $179 without a contract in the U.S. – cheaper than a comparable Samsung device which costs $250 at Verizon.
