Icom’s IC-7300 is probably the most expected transceiver of 2016, given the fact that it’s the first direct-sampling SDR from one of the “big three” manufacturers, offers a working large-screen spectrum display and is expected to be quite affordable (more details in the original Icom IC-7300 article).

In a japanese press release dated just a few hours ago, Icom finally published the official release date and the recommended price. The IC-7300 should be available by January 16th 2016 at a price of 139,800yen + tax, wich equates to US$ 1,134+tax or EUR 1,047+tax (expect VAT on top of that). This is even lower than the initially announced price of “around 150,000 yen”, and unless there is something really wrong with it, I predict it will be the next years’ best seller.

They obviously expect it to sell very well since they planned a quantity of 2000 units/year, 4 times that for the IC-7100. Some shops are already taking reservations for a small amount, although they haven’t published the official prices yet:

Icom IC-7300 at Ham Radio Outlet (USA)
Icom IC-7300 at DX Exngineering (USA)
Icom IC-7300 at Waters & Stanton (Europe)
Icom IC-7300 at ML&S (UK)