The Google Nexus 4 is a barnstorming bargain of a smart phone, costing a wallet-pleasing £239 from the Google Play store. LG -- the manufacturer behind the Nexus 4 -- may not be too pleased with Google's super-low price, however, seemingly having raised prices for some retailers.
Carphone Warehouse's Spanish arm has posted a notice on its Facebook page informing shoppers that it won't be selling the quad-core beauty, having discovered "the recommended retail price by LG of €599" is more than Google's suggested retail price, The Next Web reports.
€599 (about £479) is way higher than Google's price -- almost exactly double. Meanwhile der Standard claims (translate link) LG is selling the Nexus 4 in Austria with a €549 price tag for the £279 16GB option, with the 8GB version not offered.
Would-be customers are taking to LG's Facebook page to vent their frustration at the European prices, which includes countries where Google isn't offering the Nexus 4 yet, restricting shoppers to paying LG's higher-price option.
"You guys are the WORST company ever if you would sell this for €600 in non-Google Play countries!" one frustrated fan writes. "If you did then your phone is not worthy to carry the Nexus brand."
Another comments, "LG you make me sick! Here in Italy, never again buy your own phone!!!!"
Carphone Warehouse is selling the Nexus 4 on contract in the UK, with prices offering a free phone from £31 per month. There's no SIM-free option yet, though the phone itself is so cheap you'd be much better off buying the phone direct from Google and getting a separate SIM-only deal. Read the maths breakdown here.
Google's staggeringly low price for the Nexus 4 was a big part of us awarding it four and a half stars plus an Editors' Choice award in our glowing review. The gorgeous device offers performance that trounces the Samsung Galaxy S3, at half the price.
Google makes other surprisingly cheap devices too, selling the powerful Nexus 7 tablet (which is made by Asus) for £160 -- a price so low Google doesn't make any money from flogging it.
Should LG be able to charge more for the Nexus 4? Or should Google's price be the limit? Tell me in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
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Comments 34
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CaptainPicard 5 November, 2012 18:36
Can't Europeans some how buy the Nexus 4 from the UK? And the last bit about google not making any money from the Nexus 7, well google doesn't really pay the full UK tax rate so it's not really making a loss.
CaptainPicard 5 November, 2012 18:40
It also doesnt pay full taxes in other countries (neither of the big tech companies do).
Lukasz Markiewicz 5 November, 2012 19:52
Well, I moved back to Poland after living in the UK for six years, but I'm getting a friend of mine to buy it from Google Play. The one thing that sucks is that if you don't have anyone in UK who you'd trust with the money, then you're pretty much stuck. You can't order one and even if you can manage to bypass the location detection in the Google Play store, they will not ship overseas.
The retail price is ridiculous and a very poor move by LG. If they agreed to partner with Google on design and online sales, then they should have stuck with the price. IF LG thinks this phone undercuts their profit margin too much, then they should have never released it at this price online. Anyone who has enough interest in Android to want a Nexus phone iinstead of a GS III or One X will know about the normal online pricing and be left with a bad taste. They will get no sales and annoy customers.
anonymous 5 November, 2012 20:51
I hope google doesn't decide to put the price up! More powerful and better screen than the S3- and much cheaper! As well as jellybean.
anonymous 5 November, 2012 20:52
Definitely no sales except those from Google Play. One would be insane to pay double the price, living in a country without Google Play support I will have to buy some other quad core used phone for the time being (probably One X as many sell theirs for under 300 euro) and just buy the Galaxy S4 when it is released or wait for the next nexus device although I would hope that either all phones would get nexus like treatment or that nexus devices are not getting such a premium on updates. Stuck forever on gingerbread on Optimus 2x, hoping for a stable build of CM10, will never again buy an LG product.
anonymous 5 November, 2012 21:10
Lge is apparently willing to put their brand value up for a serious test :-)
Lucas Baker 5 November, 2012 21:47
Why don't they just buy it from amazon UK?
Hoey 5 November, 2012 23:59
Not worth buying as the next mobile network upgrade is 4G LTE and this phone doesn't have it + n no expandable memory which sucks balls!!! Even more so if LG up the price I would forget this phone in an instance
anonymous 6 November, 2012 00:23
Nexus 4 will face the same treatment as its predecessors did id prices are increased...
it will a big flop for sure...
Eric Manktelow 6 November, 2012 00:36
I think you'll find millions of people are looking at the price of 4G in the UK and saying... Erm... thanks but no thanks.
Whilst Networks are planning to push 4G with rip off prices and stupid data caps 3G will live on very strong.
I'm not planning to go to 4G until it matches 3G for data caps (or lack off) and price.
anonymous 6 November, 2012 06:55
Don't bother with the LTE version of 4G (it's not proper full 4G anyway, only a halfway house).
Apart from the high cost and measily data allowances that the first network provides, the other networks will also have to charge these higher rates in order to claw back the money they'll have to pay to get their licence to use it.
anonymous 6 November, 2012 07:12
Buyers are a strange lot; they behave as if their life depended on this gadget, and they simply must have it now! If they want it then they should be able to arrange the purchase by some means from Google, contacts elsewhere, whatever and wait for it for a few weeks.
anonymous 6 November, 2012 08:46
I would suggest anyone with a bit of spare cash in the UK buy a bunch of Nexus 4's and put them on ebay with European shipping for. You will make a nice bit of cash as these are guaranteed to sell to those who will still have to pay far more to buy it locally.
Stuart Perchard 6 November, 2012 12:04
sorry but that's not a good idea from personal experiance . When selling abroad on ebay, some people deny acceptance , then even if you can make a claim it takes 3 months. It only takes one bad sale and any profit turns into a loss
anonymous 6 November, 2012 12:27
It's actually the other way around, LG aren't putting the price up, Google are heavily subsidising it to be able to sell it at a lower price point.
uksnapper 6 November, 2012 18:09
This is a phone made to be disposable.
When the battery gives up,as it will, it will be of no further use or cost a lot to have the phone serviced with a new battery by an authorised service centre.
That's going to hurt.
anonymous 6 November, 2012 18:24
selling at differential prices across the eu is a breach of eu law. write to the commission and make a complaint on free movement of goods grounds.
Meleagru 6 November, 2012 20:09
This is a strange move by LG. They might sell a few phones at a higher price, but the PR will be horrendous. But companies aren't people, their sole purpose is to make profit.
anonymous 9 November, 2012 21:12
LG had a chance to get back in the game on google wings but blew it miserably. Setting expectations like this and failing short will be devastating - much worse than living with short term thin profits. LG is for me forever dead.
anonymous 11 November, 2012 22:38
If LG expect to get a lot of sales at a premium price they are crazy ; I am buying this phone on it's UK release for £279 (16gb) if the price was 450 like most other smartphones I would likely opt for the HTC one x plus instead. LG really don't have enough fans to play around with and should take Google's price with a blessing. If they sold it at a reasonable price to Europe and Australia , they would sell millions. This is a stupid move from LG. Ah well, at least I can expect to get it from google store.
anonymous 13 November, 2012 09:11
BUT, when I started to research the prices and carriers here in sweden I was stunned to say the least. The starting price for the Nexus 4 in the US is 299$ (1995 swedish sek) this is insanely competitive and a brilliant move on googles side. However the swedish carriers charge ALOT more, the swedish carrier "3" charges 650.29$ (4595 sek). Another carrier Tele2 charges 353.09$ when signing up for a 2 year contract that prompts you to pay a monthly fee of 35$! In both of these cases the price of the product is more than twice the price I would have to pay were I an American citizen, even the UK alternatives are cheaper.
I am very disappointed at Google for punishing some of the European countries in this way and I strongly consider ignoring google devices for a forceable future. Why is the swedish prices so ridiculously high compared to US? What is the reason for this strategy? Why is there not a carrier free alternative in Sweden? I would really like to move in to Android territory and as a student the price plays an important role in my decision. There are many like me that will feel and already feel cheated by the price gap, please convince me to stay on the path of "Androidem" and don't force me back to the land of rotting apples...
anonymous 13 November, 2012 15:37
#@anonymous 13 November, 2012 09:11
Please stay :)(:
anonymous 14 November, 2012 05:45
In Finland (Verkkokauppa.com) the price for the 8 gig version is 599€. This is insane!!
anonymous 15 November, 2012 17:57
To add insult to injury, Google Play Store is not available here in Egypt, and we got no carriers selling the phone (least not for now). When the device kicks in, we will find it costing more than 4500 EGP which is equal to around $736!!!. Talk about black market, talk about LG being Greedy, we won't be able to tast the phone here. As a matter of fact, it will be much more expensive than SGS III costing only 3250 EGP on local warranty "about $500" and HTC ONE X costing almost the same if not less
anonymous 16 November, 2012 14:59
LG is stupid company google sells device for $299 8GB and $349 16GB version and now LG wil price it $600-$650 outside Google Play shame on you bbouth LG, and Google.
anonymous 22 November, 2012 08:36
This is unfair for other countries in the EU that cannot place their order on Google Play. When I saw the first couple of reviews, I was going for it.. but the Europe price tag is diverging me to other phones now.
uksnapper 23 November, 2012 00:05
Its just a phone.
In 6 months something better will be available.
In the meantime keep the phone you already paid for and spend the money on someone
you love,It will be a better return on investment
anonymous 24 November, 2012 19:25
I was "fighting" for android since my HTC desire with my friends that are iPhone positive, but this move, together with the inability to buy stuff from play store ( devices, movies, books, music) if you are not from the lucky countries such as UK, France or Germany makes me really sick.
I wanted to buy N4. My loyalty towards android brought me nothing than treatment to be a second class customer to Google.
Right now I am really considering switching to the apple, even I do not like the concept of iOS, because I am getting tired of doing compromises.
Thanks a lot Google.
anonymous 28 November, 2012 11:25
Consider this - even if £279 is cheaper than buying it through third party sites such as CPW, we're still paying massively over the odds for the phone. The US price of $350 converts to £218 at today's rates!
anonymous 22 December, 2012 00:56
LG seems to be doing the same BS move here in Hong Kong too. The phone is selling in Fortress and Broadway (the two biggest electronics retailers locally) for HK$4398 (~US$567 or GBP349). How manipulative of lG to take advantage of customers' lack of access to the Play store. That kind of closed borders thinking really flies in the face of what most of us consider Android to be all about. The fact that LG wasn't even able to get aligned with Google on something as fundamental as price demonstrates a real rift that makes me very nervous as a consumer (and guess which brand has more clout in my opinion if it comes down to a fight?).
anonymous 23 December, 2012 18:34
Another Finn here: yes, verkokauppa.com prices are *always* higher than other Finnish webstores. verkkokauppa.com even had the Nexus 7 (8 GB) at more than double the price than in the USA, for a while. Now they're selling only the 16 GB and 32 GB models, but their prices are still much higher than in other webshops like netanttila.com
Until Google Play starts selling in Finland, verkkokauppa.com is going to extort ridiculous money from a captive userbase. Still, there are cheaper alternatives even in Finland.
anonymous 24 December, 2012 11:32
Basically everyone should boycott buying the Nexus4 from other retailers other than GooglePlay. I would even consider buying from CarphoneWarehouse or other retailers if they were selling it for up to £50 more than the googleplay price as obviously the advantage is they have stock! BUT for LG to put retailers in this position or retailers taking advantage of the lack of googleplay stock just shows a lack of respect to customers who pay out for these devices. If we didn't you wouldn't have a business you idiots! So for the sake of all of us don't buy unless from googleplay or if its only reasonably more from 3rd parties otherwise LG and retailers will know they can get away with charging more & keep doing it! I will wait & if google cant get stock in by a months time i will wait for new releases later in the year. Also google running out of stock is so stupid they could sell millions of these if they had stock!
anonymous 5 February, 2013 12:23
Someone commented asking why not buy from amazon.co.uk. Here's why:
Amazon charges £338,39, which is a lot more than $299,-.
Then you have them ship it home. In my case that's the Netherlands. On arrival here customs will collect from me 21% VAT before handing me the package.
You can see that total cost to me is already in the region of the LG price. Never mind.
anonymous 16 February, 2013 10:26
I am sure a few will find their way to South Africa .Will be the first LG mobile phone I actually wouldnt mind owning.
http://www.mobilephoneprice.in/