Samsung's shiny new Galaxy smartphones officially go in sale on April 28. If you're planning to sign up to a new mobile contract and want to bag yourself a Galaxy S8 or S8+ in the process, here are the available plans from Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile. We've also included some tips for those who want to buy the phones outright.

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ were officially unveiled today at Samsung's Unpacked event in New York. They provide a host of subtle improvements over the S7, with the most eye-catching addition being a new, bezel-free design which has allowed Samsung to pack a larger screen into a smaller phone.

Both phones come with 4GB of RAM, a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera, 64GB of internal storage and an Octacore processor running on Android Nougat. Other noteworthy features include IP68 water resistance (up to 30 minutes submerged in fresh water), inbuilt NFC and a reasonably beefy battery. You can check out the full list of specifications here.

Buying outright

The Galaxy S8 will cost $1199 to buy outright in Australia, while the S8+ comes in at an eye-watering $1349. 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 before April 27, Samsung will throw in its latest Galaxy Gear VR virtual-reality headset, plus $50 of Oculus Store credit. The freebies are also being offered through Australia's major telcos when you pre-order.

If you can afford to buy upfront, this is the most cost-effective way to purchase the S8 or S8+. 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

As usual, Telstra's plans cost more than the competition. The starting price for the Galaxy S8 on a 24-month contract is $80 ($55 per month plus $25 monthly handset repayments). This is around the same price as last year's S7, which started at $79 per month.

However, the entry-level plan nets you a measly 1GB of data. You're much better off going for a $95+ plan, which come with up to 25GB of data and $0 handset repayments. In short, you'd have to be an idiot to go with Telstra's smallest plan.

The S8+ comes in slightly dearer at $87 per month. As with S8, you should stump up a bit of extra cash for the L or XL plan: the difference in data is massive. We'll be including the full list of plans below as soon as they become available.

Optus

Optus' cheapest plan for the Galaxy S8 is $82 per month, an increase of nearly $20 over the S7 launch price. The S8+ is slightly more expensive at $87. Like Telstra, you get 1GB of data on these plans which won't get you very far. The sensible plans start at $94, which comes with 7GB of data per month.

The S8+ plans are come with the same inclusions but with higher repayment fees: some plans require you to pay more than double compared to the S8. We'll be including the full list of plans below as soon as they become available.

Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile is starting its pricing at $70 and $75 per month for the S8 and S8+, respectively. This is the cheapest available plan from any Australian telco, although the 500MB data cap renders it worthless. The top-tier plans come in at $105 and $110 which nets you 20GB per month to play around with. We'll be including the full list of plans below as soon as they become available.

Vodafone

Vodafone hasn't released its pricing yet. For reference, its S7 pricing started at $75 per month which came with 500MB of data. We'll be including the full list of plans below as soon as they become available.

Conclusion

As with last year's Galaxy S7, you're going to have to drop at least $90 to get a decent data allowance on this phone. Of the deals we've seen, Virgin Mobile's $86/$91 plan stands out as one of the best bang-for-buck offers: it comes with 8GB of data, unlimited calls and $300 credit per month for international calls.

There's not much love here for plan hunters on a budget though: the cheapest plan is $70 per month and that nets you a next-to-useless 500MB of data.

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