Rumor: Google subsidizing cost of Nexus 4 by $370
updated 10:28 am EST, Tue November 6, 2012
Google Play price far below prices of European retailer
Google may be subsidizing the cost of the Nexus 4 for its customers. While the Android smartphone is priced at $300 on the Google Play store, the same cannot be said for sales to retailers and networks. Phone House, Spanish mobile phone retailer and part of the Carphone Warehouse group claim that LG are selling them far higher.
A statement on the Facebook page for the retailer, spotted by The Next Web, claims LG were offering the handsets to the company with a recommended retail price of 600 euro ($770). Though the retailer does not mention which version of the Nexus 4 had the high pricetag, nor how much the handsets cost to the company directly, it does suggest either LG is pricing it highly compared to the handset's own cost, or Google is selling the handset directly to customers at below cost.
The Carphone Warehouse does offer the handset on sale, though only as part of a contract package. At the lowest level of subscription listed, the Nexus 4 would cost £220 ($350) as part of a two-year £17 ($27) per month contract, just £60 ($96) less than Google's UK price for the 16GB version.
