Planhacker: Every Samsung Galaxy S7 And S7 Edge Plan In Australia

Samsung’s shiny new Galaxy smartphone is officially available in Australia today with all major telcos offering a range of plans for the device. If you’re contemplating a new phone contract and have your heart set on the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, this comprehensive plan breakdown will help you make the right decision.

Following a much-hyped launch at Mobile World Congress, the Galaxy S7 And S7 Edge are officially available in Australia from today.

Here’s a recap of both products, along with a full rundown of plans from Telstra, Vodafone, Optus and Virgin Mobile.

Product recap

The Samsung Galaxy S7 comes with a 5.1-inch Quad HD AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 820 processor and a 3000 mAh battery. The S7 Edge is slightly bigger at 5.5 inches and uses a 3600 mAh battery and Samsung’s own Exynos 8890 processor.

Both phones pack in 4GB of RAM, a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera and run on Android Marshmallow with a TouchWiz skin over the top. Samsung is also bringing back expandable memory for these models — both come with MicroSD slots.

Other noteworthy features include IP68 water resistance (up to 30 minutes submerged in fresh water), inbuilt NFC, Samsung Pay and wireless charging functionality.

Chief specifications:

Galaxy S7 Galaxy S7 edge
OS Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Dimensions 142.4mm x 69.6mm x 7.9mm 150.9mm x 72.6mm x 7.7mm
Weight 152g 157g
CPU Snapdragon 820 Octa Core (2.3 GHz Quad + 1.6Ghz Quad) Exynos 8890 Quad Core (2.15 GHz Dual + 1.6Ghz Dual)
Memory 4GB RAM (LPDDR4) 4GB RAM (LPDDR4)
Storage 32GB (+ MicroSD card slot) 32GB (+ MicroSD card slot)
Display 5.1-inch Quad HD AMOLED 5.5-inch Quad HD AMOLED
Resolution 2560 x 1440 (577 ppi) 2560 x 1440 (534 ppi)
Camera 12MP rear, 5MP front 12MP rear, 5MP front
Battery 3000mAh (non-removable) 3600mAh (non-removable)

Buying outright

The Galaxy S7 will cost $1149 to buy outright in Australia, while the S7 edge comes in at $1249. There may be slightly cheaper offers available from the likes of Mobileciti and Kogan, but pricing will be largely the same for the first few months after launch.

If you pre-order either device through Samsung before March 10, the company will throw in a Galaxy Gear VR virtual-reality headset. (More details here.) The free Gear VR will also be offered through Australia’s major telcos when you pre-order.

For anyone who prefers pre-paid plans over mobile contracts, this is definitely the way to go — provided you have a wad of disposable cash on hand, of course. As we’ve said in the past, phone contracts tend to be bad value for money and they also deny you the ability of switching telcos whenever you like. With that said, here are the plans currently being offered by Telstra, Optus, Virgin and Vodafone.

Telstra

Telstra’s starting price for the Galaxy S7 on a 24-month contract is $79 per month. The S7 Edge comes in slightly dearer at $86 per month. As per usual, this is a bit higher than the competition although you do get slightly more data on the lowest plan.

Telstra’s top-end plans come with $150 of free international calls per month, but otherwise there’s not much joy here for expats or people with family abroad.

Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Plan Plan Features Data Minimum Total Cost
$86 $550 standard talk credit, unlimited text 1GB $2064
$91 $1000 standard talk credit, unlimited text 2.5GB $2184
$105 Unlimited standard talk and text 6GB $2520
$141 Unlimited standard talk and text, $150 international calls 15GB $3384

Our pick: The $99/$105 plan is probably your best bet. For average users, 6GB of data per month should be plenty. To be honest, none of these deals are particularly exciting, although you do get Telstra’s expansive and (mostly) reliable network.

Optus

Optus’s cheapest plan for the Galaxy S7 is $64 per month, with the Galaxy S7 coming in at a monthly spend of $69. Like the other entry-level plans of this list, both come with a paltry data allowance of 500MB a month.

The top-end plan packs in 18GB of data for $100 — that’s $30 off the usual monthly price for this specific plan.

Samsung Galaxy S7

Plan Plan Features Data Minimum Total Cost
$64 Unlimited talk, unlimited text 500MB $1536
$76 Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 150 international calls 3GB $1824
$85 Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 300 international calls 6GB (+ bonus 2GB) $2040
$100 Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 400 international calls 10GB (+ bonus 2GB) $2400
$100 ($30 off) Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited international calls 18GB $2400

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Plan Plan Features Data Minimum Total Cost
$71 Unlimited talk, unlimited text 500MB $1704
$83 Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 150 international calls 3GB $1992
$92 Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 300 international calls 6GB (+ bonus 2GB) $2208
$104 Unlimited talk, unlimited text, 400 international calls 10GB (+ bonus 2GB) $2496
$100 ($30 off) Unlimited talk, unlimited text, unlimited international calls 18GB $2400

Our pick: If you’ve got the cash, go for the $100 Galaxy S7 Edge plan with the $30 discount: in terms of bang for buck, it’s the best value by far. (Indeed, the “cheaper” 12GB deal is actually $4 more expensive per month!)

Virgin

Virgin Mobile is starting its pricing at $60 and $65 per month for the S7 and S7 Edge, respectively. Top-tier plans come in at $130 for both models.

New Virgin customers swapping over from a competitor will receive generous data allowances for the first three months of their contract. Bear in mind that the bonus data deal only applies to new customers on the Optus network (which Virgin runs on.) Sadly, this means existing Optus subscribers are excluded from the deal.

Samsung Galaxy S7

Plan Plan Features Data Minimum Total Cost
$60 $300 standard talk and text credit 300MB $1410
$65 Unlimited standard talk and text, $50 international calls 500MB (+ bonus 600MB) $1560
$70 Unlimited standard talk and text, $100 international calls 1GB (+ bonus 2GB) $70
$75 Unlimited standard talk and text, $200 international calls 3GB (+ bonus 4GB) $1680
$85 Unlimited standard talk and text, $300 international calls 6GB (+ bonus 8GB) $2040
$100 Unlimited standard talk and text, $300 international calls 10GB (+ bonus 13GB) $2400
$130 Unlimited standard talk and text, $500 international calls 15GB (+ bonus 21GB) $3120

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Plan Plan Features Data Minimum Total Cost
$65 $300 standard talk and text credit 300MB $1560
$70 Unlimited standard talk and text, $50 international calls 500MB (+ bonus 600MB) $1680
$75 Unlimited standard talk and text, $100 international calls 1GB (+ bonus 2GB) $1800
$80 Unlimited standard talk and text, $200 international calls 3GB data (+ bonus 4GB) $1920
$91 Unlimited standard talk and text, $300 international calls 6GB (+ bonus 8GB) $2184
$104 Unlimited standard talk and text, $300 international calls 10GB (+ bonus 13GB) $2496
$130 Unlimited standard talk and text, $500 international calls 15GB (+ bonus 21GB) $3120

Our pick It’s hard to go past the $85/$91 plan here — especially if you’re eligible for all that extra data. If you’ve got deep pockets and stupid data requirements, the 36GB(!) plan for $130 a month could also be worth a look.

Vodafone

Vodafone’s starting price for the Galaxy S7 is $75 per month, while the S7 Edge will set you back a minimum of $83 per month. Both come with 500MB of data. The most expensive plan will set you back $130. Across all plans, Vodafone is offering unlimited data for the first two months.

Samsung Galaxy S7

Plan Plan Features Data Minimum Total Cost
$75 Unlimited talk and text credit 500MB $1800
$80 Unlimited standard talk and text, 120 minutes international calls 3GB $1920
$77 Unlimited standard talk and text 6GB $1848
$88 Unlimited standard talk, text and international calls 8GB $2112
$105 Unlimited standard talk, text and international calls 12GB $2520
$130 Unlimited standard talk, text and international calls 20GB $3120

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Plan Plan Features Data Minimum Total Cost
$83 Unlimited talk and text credit 500MB $1800
$95 Unlimited standard talk and text, 120 minutes international calls 3GB $2280
$90 Unlimited standard talk and text 6GB $2328
$95 Unlimited standard talk, text and international calls 8GB $2376
$111 Unlimited standard talk, text and international calls 12GB $2664
$133 Unlimited standard talk, text and international calls 20GB $3192

Our pick: By and large, Vodafone’s pricing is amongst the most expensive of the four main telcos (hell, some of them even beat Telstra, which is really saying something.) We’d probably go for the $88/$95 deal, although you can get more data for the same price elsewhere.

Conclusion

If you can stomach the thought of dropping $90 to $100 per month on a mobile phone plan, there are some pretty good deals here; particularly if you’re chiefly interested in data. Optus’ discounted $100 plan for the S7 Edge is probably the best deal overall: it comes with unlimited international calls and 18GB of data.

There’s not much love here for plan hunters on a budget though: the cheapest plan is $60 per month and that nets you a useless 300MB of data. As mentioned above, our advice would be to buy the phone outright; preferably in a few months’ time when it comes down in price. Good things come to those who wait.


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