Views +1

Best Buy is cutting $100 off the cost of several top smartphones as part of a new limited-edition offer.

Smartphone consumers can head over to a Best Buy store to pick up an iPhone 5S for $99 on contract (AT&T, Sprint and Verizon only) and a Galaxy Note 3 for $199 without having to trade in old devices. The retailer is also selling the LG G2, Moto X and Samsung Galaxy S4 for $100 off. The deal only covers customers signing new contracts, however, so if you're simply looking to upgrade, you would still have to pay the regular price for these smartphones. Most of the deals are available online and there are plenty of other smartphone options as part of the offer to choose from.

Here are the official prices of the aforementioned smartphones:

-iPhone 5S - $99

-Galaxy Note 3 - $199

-LG G2 - $99

-Galaxy S4 -$99

-Moto X - $99

Apple has taken over the top spot for US smartphone sales in September, according to new data from Counterpoint Research provided to theGuardian.

The Cupertino-based company passed Samsung thanks to the new iPhone 5S and 5C, despite the smartphones' 10-day availability for purchase in the month. Apple's 4.8 million iPhones sold during September accounted for 38 percent of the US smartphone market, which dropped Samsung out of the top spot for the first time since May.

The new iPhones sandwiched the Samsung Galaxy S4, as the 5S led individual sales and the colorful 5C finished third.

According to Counterpoint's data, the rest of the Android sellers did not fare well. LG reported sales of under 10 percent despite the launch of its G2 model, Motorola claimed 5 percent and HTC finished with about 3 percent. Nokia was below HTC, suggesting it sold fewer than 400,000 smartphones in the US in September.

Samsung and Apple have controlled the share of smartphones sold since April, accounting for a combined 41.9 million smartphones sold, or about 61 percent of the market. Samsung individually sold 23.4 million phones during the period, which beat the 18.5 million reported for Apple.

Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5 Comparison

The Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5 battle has been one of the more memorable smartphone comparisons for smartphone users in recent years. Each device has its own fanatics and critics, and while the average smartphone user doesn't understand the complicated technolgy behind each device, they are adamant on which phone provides a better experience for them.

The iPhone 5 has been lauded for its smooth operating system right out of the box, but the Galaxy S4's advanced Android OS allows the user to personalize their experience. These are two of the most significant differences between these devices, which also shed a bit of light on the type of user that owns each smartphone.

However, one considerable factor consumers may want to consider when deciding between the smartphones is the cost it takes to build each model-which trickles down to your pockets during purchase.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 is all the rage these days, but its Apple competitor, the iPhone 5, may still have a leg up on its smartphone counterpart in at least one category: the iPhone is a cheaper model to make.

An estimate by HIS iSuppli suggests quite a difference in prices between the two mobile phones. This, of course, means Apple will have more profit and, as a result, more money available from the smartphone business for innovation, marketing, support and price competition.

According to the His iSuppli estimation, the Apple iPhone 5 with 16GB of storage costs $196 to manufacture (for the lowest-end model), including materials. The cost for the 32GB version is estimated at $217, while the 64GB version runs $238.

Samsung Galaxy S4 estimates to cost $244 for the 16GB model at the high-speed packet access version (a 4G mobile standard), with $236 going for materials and $8.50 for manufacturing. That means the S4 roughly $48 more per unit to make than the equivalent iPhone. The LTE version of the S4, with 16GB, is $3 cheaper.

"Although [the S4's] hardware is not radically different from the Galaxy S III introduced in April of 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S4 includes some critical component updates that enhance its functionality as well as its BOM cost," said Vincent Leung, senior analyst for cost benchmarking at IHS, in a statement. "Among the upgrades are a larger, full high-definition display; a beefed-up Samsung processor; and a wealth of new sensors that set a record high for the number of such devices in a smartphone design."

According to the His iSuppli estimation, the Apple iPhone 5 with 16GB of storage costs $196 to manufacture (for the lowest-end model), including materials. The cost for the 32GB version is estimated at $217, while the 64GB version runs $238.

Samsung Galaxy S4 estimates to cost $244 for the 16GB model at the high-speed packet access version (a 4G mobile standard), with $236 going for materials and $8.50 for manufacturing. That means the S4 roughly $48 more per unit to make than the equivalent iPhone. The LTE version of the S4, with 16GB, is $3 cheaper.

"Although [the S4's] hardware is not radically different from the Galaxy S III introduced in April of 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S4 includes some critical component updates that enhance its functionality as well as its BOM cost," said Vincent Leung, senior analyst for cost benchmarking at IHS, in a statement. "Among the upgrades are a larger, full high-definition display; a beefed-up Samsung processor; and a wealth of new sensors that set a record high for the number of such devices in a smartphone design."

(Source)