T-Mobile Galaxy S3 LTE Arrives with Steep Price

It appears that T-Mobile has quietly put the Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE on sale through its website today with the device emerging for $70 down but with a $550 full retail price that is in line with the price of the HTC One, the flagship model that HTC debuted on T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network just a few short weeks ago.

In a bit of a surprise, the T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE, which was first announced at CES in January, has finally made it to T-Mobile’s online store. The device was not given a specific release date or any kind of announcement which makes its appearance a bit of a surprise. It appears that the device is up for sale, we were able to go all the way through checkout, and it means that those interested in last year’s Samsung flagship should be able to snag it right now. It’s unclear when it might ship, however.

We were able to confirm it’s availability with a customer service representative who said that it was available to buy right now. However, it’s possible that this could be a pre-order rather than a sale.

The device is the same Samsung Galaxy S3 that emerged last year for T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42 network meaning it comes with a 720p display, dual-core processor, 8MP camera, sleek plastic design, microSD card slot and Android 4.1. The difference lies in the network speeds that it’s capable of picking up.

While the older device is only capable of snagging HSPA+ 42 speeds, the new Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE for T-Mobile is capable of hauling in speeds that are often equivalent to those found on a Wi-Fi network. T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network is small but the carrier plans to expand it to cover more than 200 million Americans by the end of the year.

Of course, those looking to snag this will find a device that is extremely expensive, on par with the price of the HTC One. T-Mobile is asking for $70 down from consumers, at the very least, with the full price amounting to $550 dollars. That’s only $30 cheaper than the new HTC One and only $80 cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S4 which was released a short time ago.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 of course is a device that is going on a year old, meaning, for some consumers, that will be a price tag that is going to be less than appetizing.