Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus Australia plans by Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile

Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile have come up with plans for Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. The flagships handsets officially go on sale from April 28, and players who want to sign up to a new contract, can readily avail these plans.

The Galaxy S8 comes with a number of improvements over the Galaxy S7. Samsung has been able to pack a larger screen into a smaller phone by adding a brand new, bezel-less design. The handsets were unveiled at the Unpacked event in New York. Both come with 12MP rear camera, 4GB RAM, 64GB internal storage, octa-core processor and the Android Nougat operating system. The phones can be put submerged in water for 30 minutes, as they are IP68 certified. There is a pretty decent battery and inbuilt NFC.

In Australia, the Samsung Galaxy S8 costs $1,199 outright, whereas the Galaxy S8 Plus comes with a price tag of $1,349. The price will be largely the same, at least for the initial few months. Samsung and other telcos in Australia are offering a lot of freebies after one pre-orders the handsets. If a user pre-orders the smartphone before April 27, Samsung will also provide the Galaxy VR headset and also $50 of Oculus store credit. It is always better to buy the S8 outright, as it is the most cost-effective way.

However, if one does not want to open his pocket fully, telcos are a good bet. Vodafone hasn’t released its pricing yet, though the Galaxy S7 was offered for $75 per month, and that came with 500MB of data. Virgin Mobile is offering the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphones for $70 and $75 per month. This is the cheapest plan from any telco Down Under. But the 500MB data cap renders it worthless. The top plans require buyers to pay $105 and $110 per month, and also provides 20GB per month.

Optus’ cheapest plans include $82 and $87 for the handsets. Users get only 1GB data. However, a 7GB data per month is also available, provided users pay $94 a month for the Samsung flagship. Telstra’s plans are more or less the same as last year’s Galaxy S7, asking for $80 ($55 per month plus $25 monthly handset repayments) per month on a 24-month contract, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Users should instead go for the $95+ plan that provides 25GB of data and $0 handset repayments. The previous plan gives only 1GB of data.