Samsung Galaxy S 4 Dissed By Microsoft Over High Price

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is a neat device and all, but like a lot of flagship devices, the off-contract price can be a little off-putting to those not willing to shell out the cash for it, which is why subsidized pricing is a lot more attractive to consumers. However, that isn't stopping Microsoft from taking a whack at the Galaxy S 4, saying that its off-contract price is just way too expensive.Microsoft pits the Samsung Galaxy S 4 up against the Windows Phone 8-based Nokia Lumia 521. Right off the bat it's kind of an unfair fight performance- and feature-wise, but the Lumia 521 only costs $150 off-contract, compared to the $750 off-contract price of the Galaxy S 4 at Best Buy (although you can get it for $650 at Verizon and other carrier stores).

Microsoft says that both phones offer "a good camera, a good display, thousands of apps, and the ability to keep you connected to the weather, sports, news, and all of the people you care about," but they ultimately tout the low $150 price tag of the Lumia 521, and they show us what else customers could buy with the $600 dollars that they'd save if they went with the Lumia 521.

For instance, with the money you save from buying the Lumia 521 instead of the Galaxy S 4, Microsoft says you could buy a 3-month Xbox Music pass for $30, a 16GB microSD card for $20, a pair of Monster Purity earbuds for $100, and to top it all off: an ASUS VivoBook X202E laptop for $450. Seems like a pretty sweet deal.

Obviously, the Lumia 521 isn't one of Nokia's flagship devices, nor is it even one of their more decent high-end handsets. We reviewed the Lumia 520, which is just a slightly different variant. It's merely a budget device from Nokia that really doesn't stand a chance against the Galaxy S 4. Pitting the Lumia 920 up against the S 4 would be a fairer fight, but we know Microsoft wouldn't want to do that.