Good News! Airtel lets you buy Samsung Galaxy S9 at just Rs 6,490; worth it?

It's a good news for people who are waiting to purchase Samsung’s latest smartphone Galaxy S9. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel launched a teaser on it’s website, where it mentions that Samsung Galaxy S9 can be purchased at an Airtel store at a down payment of just Rs 6,490. This does not end here, Airtel is also offering additional data and many other freebies. Galaxy S9 in India is priced at Rs 57,900 for 64GB variant, Rs 61,900 for 128GB variant and Rs 65,900 for 256GB variant.  However, this Airtel offer is available only in 64GB and 128GB variants. 

Any Airtel subscriber can purchase Samsung Galaxy in its 64GB variant with a 1-time payment of Rs 6,490. Alongside this, Airtel is offering 80GB per month which would be 2.66GB per day if we take 30-day period. There is also free Amazon Prime one year subscription, free handset damage protection and unlimited calling. 

Similar offer is available on purchase of Galaxy S9 in 128GB variant however one will need to make one time payment of Rs 9,990 in this phone. 

Apart from this, it needs to be noted that although the downpayment looks quite attractive for a customer to purchase the Galaxy S9 at Airtel store, but there are some key points which you need to remember. 

Once you opt for Samsung Galaxy S9 in this Airtel offer, you will need to pay Rs 2,499 per month for a period of 24 months. This simply means you will need to subscribe to Airtel plans for 24 months at least. 

This would be mean you pay Airtel a total Rs 59,976 to the company for 24 months. And if we include the down payment, the price you pay to Airtel would come to Rs 66,466 in case of 64GB variant and Rs 69,966 in case of 128GB. 

While one pays otherwise, Rs 57,900 for 64GB variant and Rs 61,900 for 128GB variant. 

Even the Rs 2499 plan for 24 months seems very expensive. Airtel gives 3GB data per day for a period of 28 days at a recharge pack of Rs 349 which would mean total 84GB data. If you pay Rs 349 for 24 months to Airtel your total would be just Rs 8,376. 

There is also additional Rs 5,000 cashback given on payments made via ICICI Bank credit card. 

Interestingly, before availing Airtel’s offer, you might want to have a look at what Samsung is offering on S9. The company has also given same discount to S9+. 

On purchase of S9 in any three variant, a customer can avail Rs 9,000 cashback from ICICI Bank credit card. 

On it’s website Samsung mentioned that, all customers who purchase Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+, (all variants) between 1st May to 30th June 2018 using ICICI Credit Cards will be eligible for the cashback of Rs 9000.

Offer will be applicable on ICICI Bank Credit Card Non EMI / EMI transactions only. No Cost EMI schemes of 3m, 6m, 9m, 12m tenures are also available with all leading banks/issuers.

Cashback will be processed to the customer’s card account with 90 days of post completion of the offer period. Customers are advised to retain their charge slip for 180 days.   

Not only this, Samsung is also giving almost Rs 33,000 off on exchange. There is also an additional Rs 9,000 exchange value with Samsung upgrade program. 

These smartphones which are eligible for exchange are - Google, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, OnePlus 5, OnePlus 3T, Oneplus 3, One Plus 5T, Iphone X, Apple Iphone 8 Plus, Apple Iphone 8, Apple iPhone 7 Plus, Apple iPhone 7, Apple iPhone 6s Plus, Apple iPhone 6s, Apple iPhone 6 Plus, Apple iPhone 6, Samsung Note 8 64 Gb, Samsung Galaxy S8 64GB, Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus 64GB, Samsung Galaxy S7 32GB, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 32 Gb, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ (32GB), Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge 32GB, Samsung Galaxy On Max, Samsung galaxy A5 (2016), Samsung Galaxy A8+ and Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro 32GB. 

Other Samsung models that can be exchanged are - Samsung Galaxy J7 Max, Samsung Galaxy S6 32GB, Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016), Samsung Galaxy A9 Pro, Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017), Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017), Samsung Galaxy Note 5 32GB, Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro and Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro. 

Meanwhile Bajaj Finserv gives 9 months no cost EMIs on the purchase of these phones. 

Taking Samsung stores offer, a customer can actually reduce down the price of Galaxy S9 by a massive Rs 51,000 in both 64GB and 128GB variant. 

Not only this, even in tie up with Samsung, Airtel is also giving double data offer to prepaid customers which is eligible for the offer on Rs 199 and Rs 349 recharges only. Offer is valid for first 30 recharges or 30 months whichever is earlier. 

Hence, before purchasing Samsung Galaxy S9 it is always advisable to compare the above mentioned offers in order to avail best deals.