Palm Pre Plus
Component cost: $115.32
Price without contract: $599.99 (Verizon), $299.99 (AT&T)
Price with contract: $99.99 (AT&T), Free (Verizon)
Lowest available price: Free (Verizon, Wirefly)
One of the smallest smartphones on the market, the Pre also has one of the lowest overall component costs. That, combined with the fact that Palm has sold far fewer Pres than it expected, has led Verizon to give it away for free.
The original Pre is still available on the Sprint network for $150, but the slightly improved "Plus" version can be had on AT&T for $99 or Verizon for "sign your name on the dotted line." That's pretty impressive for a critically acclaimed smartphone that just never really took off with consumers.
Still, the phone is more than a year old and has been outdone by most other smartphones on the market. That makes the $600 price tag on Verizon's network without a contract incredibly steep -- especially considering that the same phone can be had without a contract on AT&T for $300 less.
NEXT: Motorola Droid X
Last updated September 08 2010: 11:10 AM ET
Source: Component cost estimate from iSuppli
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