Our visiting foreign student from Russia just bought a Samsung Galaxy while she was here in the US. She said it was hundreds less than the same phone in Russia.
I have no idea why.
I can answer that. Different business models. In Yirip and Russia, the consumer pays for the whole cost of the phone and the service is added on as needed.
In 'Murika the phone companies pay about 85% of the cost of the phone up front charging the consumer only 15% of what they have to pay the manufacturer and make up the difference in monthly service charges over the life of the contract. That's why it's better to pay less for the phone with a contract than to pay a lot not to have a contract since you don't get a monthly service discount if you pay full manufacturer cost of the phone