The best Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus plans in Austral…

Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus have wrapped up, but the major telcos still have their specials active — I’ve compared all your options to find the best deals around

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Samsung officially unveiled the much anticipated Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus on February 26, 2026 with some fresh upgrades over the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus. While it’s fair to say the Galaxy S26 Ultra has stolen many of the headlines once again this year, there’s still much to love with the rest of the Galaxy S26 range.

The base model Galaxy S26, for example, sports a slightly larger 6.3-inch screen over its predecessor (6.2 inches), and its storage options now start at 256GB, double from the 128GB that the S25 started with. The battery also gets a boost to 4,300mAh, up from 4,000mAh. The larger-screened Galaxy S26 Plus, meanwhile, retains the 6.7-inch display and 4,900mAh battery from its predecessor, and gets Samsung's new Exynos 2600 chipset, with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip reserved for the top-tier S26 Ultra.

While the battery capacity is the same, the S26 Plus can be charged wirelessly at 20W, compared to the S25 Plus’ slower 15W wireless charging. If you’re looking to buy outright, the range is available at retailers like Amazon, JB Hi-Fi and The Good Guys, with the first two offering trade-in options. Buying direct from Samsung will also let you pay in instalments of up to 24 months, and trade-ins are also available (including non-Samsung products).

When paired with one of our best SIM-only plans, buying outright will be the best bang-for-buck option. These are flagship phones, so the base model Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus won’t fit in our best cheap phones list. It also doesn’t help that both handsets are more expensive than the S25 lineup, with the base model S26 starting from AU$1,549 (up from the S25’s AU$1,399) and the S26 Plus from AU$1,849 (vs the S25 Plus’s starting price of AU$1,699).

This would make paying in monthly instalments an attractive option for some. While the retailers have finished their pre-order specials, Australia’s big three telcos still have some active deals of up to AU$500 off the handset price for the Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus (as well as the Galaxy S26 Ultra), with some also coinciding with existing promotions. With so many options available to score a brand new upgrade, fInding the best plan for these new handsets may not be the most straightforward process, so we’ve done the hard work for you.

Take a look at our picks for the best phone plans for the Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus below: Samsung Galaxy S26 (256GB) | Vodafone Small Plan | 60GB data | 24 months | AU$86.87 p/m Vodafone is taking AU$400 off the handset price (based on the RRP of AU$1,549) if you sign up for either a 24- or 36-month plan with the telco. When paired with Vodafone’s Small Plan for 24 months, the monthly cost of AU$86.87 is the best-value telco plan for the 256GB Galaxy S26.

This plan includes 60GB of data and unlimited national calls and texts. Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (256GB) | Vodafone Small Plan | 60GB data | 24 months | AU$95.20 p/m For the larger-screened Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus, the discount on the handset price is AU$500 with a 24- or 36-month plan from Vodafone. When paired with Vodafone’s Small Plan, the monthly cost of AU$95.20 is the best value telco plan for the 256GB Galaxy S26 Plus.

Samsung Galaxy S26 (256GB) | Optus Choice Plus Plan | 50GB data | 24 months | AU$98.68 p/m Optus is one-upping Vodafone by adding a AU$500 discount to the handset price if you sign up for either a 24- or 36-month plan, while also adding in a Galaxy Watch 8 40mm for free if you sign up for an Optus Watch Plan. The Optus Choice Plus Plan also has unlimited national calls and texts, while roaming costs an extra AU$5 per day for 5GB of data.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (256GB) | Optus Choice Plus Plan | 50GB data | 24 months | AU$111.19 p/m The bigger Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus also gets the same AU$500 discount on the handset price when signing up for a 24- or 36-month plan with Optus. As with the S26 plan above, you can also get a Galaxy Watch 8 for free when you tack on an Optus Watch Plan. Want to opt for a SIM-only plan and not be tied to a telco?

There are plenty of options for buying the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus outright: Samsung’s new range of S-series phones have had some modest hardware upgrades over its predecessors, but they now all start with storage options from 256GB instead of 128GB with the S25 lineup last year. The base Galaxy S26’s main upgrades were its screen size (6.3 inches versus the S25’s 6.2 inches) and its battery capacity (4,300mAh from 4,000mAh from the S25), while the Plus gets 20W wireless charging, up from 15W for its predecessor.

Both phones retain their IP68 dust and water-resistance rating from their predecessors, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection, and camera arrays (50MP main, 10MP telephoto, 12MP ultrawide and 12MP front-facing). On the software side of things, AI is at centre stage yet again with Galaxy AI features like the proactive Now Nudge notifications, predicting the next task you might need to do, as well as Bixby getting a boost through a partnership with Perplexity to answer non-phone related prompts.

The phones also come with AI-powered call screening, document scanning and new AI photo editing tools. Unfortunately, both the headline-grabbing Privacy Display and the gimbal-like horizontal lock video mode are only exclusive to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, so if you’re specifically looking for those features, you can check out the best Galaxy S26 Ultra plans. Nico is an experienced writer and journalist, having previously written for business titles across Australia.  While mainly focusing on phones and finding deals and coupon codes at TechRadar Australia, he is also a keen cyclist and occasional hiker, so he also loves related tech like smartwatches and bike computers.

Outside of tech, Nico is also a politics, basketball and movie obsessive. Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

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This report covers the latest developments in samsung. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

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