U.S. carrier AT&T announced it will make the new Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone available for pre-order on April 16.

Those interested in the new gadget can reserve the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 for $250, signing a two-year contract with the carrier. AT&T did not mention, however, an exact shipping date for the device.

"Continuing our legacy as the first carrier to launch Samsung's Galaxy series, we are excited to announce AT&T customers will be able to begin pre-ordering the Galaxy S4 beginning April 16 for $249.99 with a two-year commitment," AT&T said in a company blog post on Thursday, March 28. "We are proud to offer this iconic device and continue to offer our customers the best smartphone line-up, with a variety of devices for every lifestyle and budget."

T-Mobile also announced recently that it will offer the Samsung Galaxy S4, with CEO John Legere saying that the handset would become available "about May 1." It may not be an exact release date, but the smartphone should arrive sometime in that frame. Other U.S. carriers will likely follow the same release window.

The AT&T price, however, seems to come a bit steeper than many people expected, especially when compared to T-Mobile's offer. On the other hand, the $99.99 price point with T-Mobile is just a down payment, which means it doesn't include the amount customers will be paying monthly in addition to their service bill.

The new Samsung Galaxy S4 sports a 5-inch 1080p display and a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera. The U.S.-bound version of the phone packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor clocked at 1.9GHz and 2GB of RAM under the hood. The handset also features a 2500mAh battery.

Samsung announced the Galaxy S4 in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage configurations, but AT&T has yet to mention which storage versions it will be offering. The $249.99 price point could be for the 32GB version, but nothing's for sure yet. The remaining U.S. carriers, meanwhile, will likely announce their own pricing details for the Galaxy S4 soon. The AT&T Samsung Galaxy S4 is available for pre-order at this link.

The upcoming availability of the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone also means that its predecessor, the popular Galaxy S3, will be available for a discounted price. Some deals are already in place, and more are likely to follow shortly. For those who think the Galaxy S4 is not worth upgrading, those Galaxy S3 deals may be perfect.