Yesterday, I noted that Amazon will sell the Nokia 6 for $229 starting next month. But Prime members can save even more, assuming they don’t mind some lock screen advertising.
“The new Nokia 6, the debut Android device in the U.S. from HMD Global, initially available only on Amazon and the first Nokia phone in the Prime Exclusive Phones lineup, will be available for only $179.99, saving Prime members $50 off the full retail price,” an Amazon press release reveals in one of the more convoluted run-on sentences I’ve read in a while. “Prime Exclusive Phones have been consistently featured in the top 5 best-selling unlocked phones list on Amazon and are among the top rated unlocked smartphones available on Amazon.com.”
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So what’s happening here?
The Nokia 6 is a mid-level device with a Snapdragon 430 processor, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of expandable storage, and a 16 MP rear camera. It will be sold exclusively in the U.S. via Amazon—at least for now—and will retail for $229.99, which seems like a reasonable price. (Yes, it is unlocked.)
However, we learned today that Amazon Prime members—who pay a $100 annual fee for two-day shipping and numerous digital benefits—will be able to purchase this same phone for just $179.99, a savings of $50.
Caveats? You bet: Like Kindle e-readers and tablets, and other Prime Exclusive Phones, this version of the Nokia 6 will come with what Amazon says are “personalized offers and ads, including personalized deals and product recommendations, displayed on the phone’s lock screen.” Plus it will include a “Prime Exclusive Phone single sign-on experience,” and several Amazon apps for watching movies and TV shows, listening to music, enjoying photos, and accessing cloud-based documents.
Can you remove these ads from a Prime Exclusive Phone? Yes, but you have to pay for that privilege. This price varies by device, but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess the cost will be $50.
You can find the Nokia 6 on the Amazon website in both Prime Exclusive version and normal versions. Both are available for preorder now and will ship on July 10.
Bats
<p>I am not going to be surprised if Nokia ends up being a major phone carrier from hereon. The brand name is highly revered worldwide, along with Motorola and Sony.</p><p>If this does become the case, I wonder how Microsoft will feel. I have said this before in one of Paul's posts when he was working for the Supersite…the only reason Microsoft and Windows Phone had any "traction" in the mobile space was because of the Nokia name. When users realized that their phones were not really Nokias, but Microsoft Windows phone, they ditched it like a hot potato.</p>