Galaxy SII: Price drop or spec drop?

Last edited 1 Nov 2011.


Two weeks ago, the recommended retail price of Samsung Galaxy S2 dropped from RM2099 to RM1899. This is a rather weird move as SGSII is selling like hot cakes. Around the same time, there are users (here and here) reporting that Samsung Malaysia silently changed the System-on-Chip (SoC) in I9100 and renamed version of the new sets to I9100G. The original SoC is Exynos 4210 (with Mali-400) and the new SoC is a lower performance Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 (with SGX540). The OMAP 4430 SoC is used in LG Optimus 3D and the performance is indeed poorer than Exynos according to a review by AnandTech (VIA Jayce Ooi's Paradise). Later, Samsung Malaysia did not deny the change and posted the following response:

Samsung has released both device variants (I9100 and I9100G), which are being released at the same price and provide identical product features (including Super AMOLED plus screen and 1.2 GHz dual-core processor). The difference in chipsets does not impact the overall product performance in any one variant relative to the other. Product packaging remains the same for both variants, although the device type for each model is clearly labeled in the packaging.
With that said, potential buyers should be careful before making a new purchase of Galaxy S2.

Update: Benchmark test of I9100 vs I9100G available.

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