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Netflix for less than half price! What’s the catch?

Netflix for less than half price! What’s the catch?
Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

  • Updated:

Since Netflix first burst onto the scene it has revolutionized our free time. We can now watch a film or series on our TV or PC at home and then, if we’re in a hurry to be somewhere, continuing watching it on our phones as we travel to where we need to be. This isn’t the case in other parts of the world, however, and now Netflix is trying to appeal to users who don’t have a TV or PC at home.

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Netflix is testing a $4 mobile only subscription in Malaysia

This move doesn’t just make sense in countries where not many people have PCs or smart TVs, but it is telling that Netflix has chosen one such country to test the new feature. There is a big difference between watching a movie on a big screen compared to watching on your smartphone. A full price subscription for people only watching on mobile devices seems a bit steep and could price people out of a Netflix subscription. The new cheaper mobile only package could open new markets around the world for Netflix to exploit. At home, there could well be plenty of people interested in signing up to only watch Netflix on their mobiles while saving some money in the process. There is a catch, though.

According to the Malaysian Star, which first reported on the test, the mobile only plan will offer unlimited access to all of the movies and TV shows available on Netflix in your region. The subscription will only cover a single device, which must be a mobile phone or a tablet. The biggest restriction, however, for the mobile-only plan is that all content will only be available in SD (standard definition) with HD streams only being available on the more expensive Standard or Premium plans.

Image via: Malaysian Star

As well as the mobile-only plan, Netflix is also testing an SD-only plan for a laptop. This plan again only covers one device but is significantly cheaper than the standard subscription model. According to the test, the price for the SD only service in Malaysia is around $7.99 whereas the standard subscription comes in at around $10.49.

The report in the Malaysian Star makes no mention of an international rollout of the two new tiers. If the test is successful, there is no reason to believe it won’t be rolled out across the world as Netflix aims to scoop up more users. The SD-only versions of Netflix content will prevent crafty users from figuring out a way to stream their mobile only subscriptions to bigger screens.

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney

Patrick Devaney is a news reporter for Softonic, keeping readers up to date on everything affecting their favorite apps and programs. His beat includes social media apps and sites like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. Patrick also covers antivirus and security issues, web browsers, the full Google suite of apps and programs, and operating systems like Windows, iOS, and Android.

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