Samsung Offers Free DeX Station or Gear VR with Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note8
by Anton Shilov on November 8, 2017 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- VR
- Samsung
- Gear VR
- DeX
- Hardware Bundles
Samsung has kicked off a new promotional campaign that bundles either of the company's two major smartphone peripherals – the DeX station or the Gear VR headset – with the company’s latest smartphones. The move enables Samsung to increase sales of its hardware and popularize its smartphone-based productivity as well as VR platforms.
For a limited time, Samsung is bundling a DeX or a Gear VR with its Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy S8 Active, as well as Galaxy Note8 smartphones purchased directly from Samsung.com. The manufacturer normally charges $99 for the DeX station and $129 for the Gear VR, so the promo campaign makes a lot of sense for those who had plans to get one of the devices. There are certain terms and conditions to be met, but the main one is to buy one of the aforementioned smartphones directly from Samsung and include one of the devices into the cart before making the purchase.
This is not the first time when Samsung is bundling DeX or Gear VR with its new smartphones, but it is noteworthy that the company is re-launching the campaign in the middle of the Galaxy S8’s life cycle and ahead of the holiday season. By offering free DeX or GearVR hardware with its latest smartphones, Samsung is killing two birds with one stone. Firstly, it sells a high-end smartphone. Secondly, it popularizes its productivity and VR platforms.
The DeX may not look like a big deal at the moment, but it is an important effort for the company. At present, the DeX allows to run select apps on the big screen and use a keyboard and a mouse to control them. In the future, Samsung plans to enable users to run various Linux applications on its smartphones (through its Linux on Galaxy app), essentially bringing a host of productivity programs to its platform and creating a rival to Microsoft’s Continuum.
Meanwhile, the Gear VR is a strong contender to be the most popular VR platform and offering it for free to owners of advanced smartphones means getting new customers that are willing to pay for content. Samsung’s sales of the Gear VR headsets in Q2 2017 totaled 568,000 units, leaving behind headsets from Sony, Oculus VR, HTC and others, according to IDC. Analysts from the latter believe that bundle deals greatly help Samsung to drive adoption of the Gear VR and therefore it is logical for the company to run various promotions, especially as new contenders are either entering the scene, or are about to.
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Source: Samsung (via Notebookcheck.net)
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twtech - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
I upgraded from an S5 to the S8+. I think maybe they actually went a bit too far with the all-screen design. It looks nice, but it's kind of hard to hold. I've gotten more used to it over time, but it doesn't seem like a phone that would survive a single hard drop. Same goes for the iPhone X too.Cliff34 - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Maybe Samsung is trying to sway people to buy S8 instead of its competitions (Essential Phone, Pixel 2, V30).melgross - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Since none of those phones sell in large numbers (the Essential has sold in the tens of thousands, the others, in the low millions a year), it would indicate a real problem if that is why Samsung is doing it.Much more likely, that as Apple’s only real smartphone competitor, this is aimed at them, as are their new Ads mocking Apple again, something they also do when sales are down.
melgross - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Looks as though S8 sales are already dropping significantly. They did the before, giving their Galaxy Tab tablet away for free with an S7 purchase.shm224 - Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - link
Where can I get that deal?lilmoe - Thursday, November 9, 2017 - link
DeX is bigger than most want to believe. This move isn't about selling more Galaxies, it's strictly about DeX, imho.This is the first time a major consumer oriented company is supporting and presenting desktop linux you the masses. I predict future dedicated hardware (laptops, etc.) running exclusively on "DeX OS" with Samsung's look and feel.
This is all dependent on the relative level of success and support it gets. Will have to wait and see.
lilmoe - Thursday, November 9, 2017 - link
***to the massescocochanel - Friday, November 10, 2017 - link
Are mobile CPU's and GPU's more powerful with each generation ? Yes. Look at Apple's A11 Bionic.Are mobile OS becoming multi-threaded as well ? Yes.
Would a bunch of people like to do word processing, spreadsheets and the like without carrying that laptop with them all the time ? I, for one would.
You never know what gadget it's going to shake the market.
AndrewTAYl - Monday, November 20, 2017 - link
You couldn't be more right. It has been three months since our company put everyone on DeX, and it is actually quite comfortable as OS.The only problem is to be unchained to its desk and not be able to move. To prevent that we backed a start up called Miraxess on Indiegogo. They let you use DeX OS on their Mirabook laptop.
As you said, I'm sure plenty of accessories will come with increasing use