• by P.J. Bednarski  @pjbtweet, January 3, 2020

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite

The big CES Show every year in Las Vegas is a showcase for tech’s biggest, newest, and inevitably, most expensive new electronics toys. 

Samsung is using the Jan 7-10 event to debut two new smartphones that are cheaper knockoffs of its flagship smartphones, by introducing Galaxy S10 Lite and the Galaxy Note 10 Lite.

The suggested price for an S10 is $900; the Note 10 retails at $950, both at the high end of smartphone pricing. The price for the Lite versions? Samsung gave all kinds of specs for the new models. Price wasn’t one of them. 

“The Galaxy S and Galaxy Note devices have met consumer wants and demands around the world. These devices represent our continuous effort to deliver industry leading innovations, from performance and power to intelligence and services,” said DJ Koh, Samsung’s president and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division, in a statement that accompanied the Friday announcement. “The Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note10 Lite will introduce those distinct key premium features that make up a Galaxy S and Galaxy Note experience.”

The Samsung unveiling of Lite phones did not explicitly say they’d be offered in the U.S. 

CNBC, citing  TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, speculated Samsung was using the CES Show to get ahead of the expected introduction of Apple’s new SE 3 iPhone some time in the first quarter of 2020.

Apple and Samsung both sell to high-end consumers, but for a variety of factors, those sales are harder in the saturated smartphone market and each of those brands have tried to broaden interest to a more price-sensitive consumer. 

In June, Samsung expanded its “mid-tier portfolio” with the Galaxy A Series, foremost among them the and A70 and A50 at around $350, followed by Galaxy A20 at $250 and the Galaxy A10e at $180, explaining those phones delivered “advanced technology to consumers looking for premium features at a practical price point.”

Samsung today also announced updates of the A70 and A50.