Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Replacements Are On Their Way To Australia

Following the recent recall of over 51,000 Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in Australia, Samsung has confirmed replacement stock will be available in the country from September 21.

The new batch will be identifiable by a small black square on the white barcode label along with a white sticker with a blue letter S on the box, and you’ll be able to check your IMEI number on an a database to be set up on the Samsung Australia website.

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“We would like to thank our loyal customers for their patience, and apologise for the inconvenience,” said Richard Fink, Vice President IT & Mobile at Samsung Electronics Australia. “We have been working hard to get the amazing Galaxy Note7 back in the hands of our customers to continue to enjoy.”

Fink says in a statement Samsung’s number one priority is the safety of customers, “which is why we’ve worked hard to provide new replacement Note7 devices as quickly as possible”.

Sales of the new Note7 stock will resume “in early October”.

If you were affected by the Galaxy Note 7 issues, you can choose a new Galaxy Note7 (with a courtesy device provided until the arrival of replacement Galaxy Note7 stock) or a refund via either Samsung or your retailer — depending on where you purchased it.

If you choose to get a replacement Note 7, your retailer or Samsung will be in touch from September 21 to organise delivery.

Until a replacement device is provided, don’t use your Note 7. Back up your data, complete a factory reset to delete personal data, power down your device and return it to its place of purchase.

Samsung says to call customer service on 1300 362 603 or visit the website if you need specialised advice.

The Galaxy Note 7 will cost $1349 to buy outright in Australia. 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.

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’s starting price for the Galaxy Note 7 on a 24-month contract is $95 per month. As per usual, this is significantly higher than the competition although you do get a bit more data than Vodafone and Virgin’s entry level plans. It comes with $550 worth of free text and calls per month (Optus and Virgin, meanwhile, are unlimited.)

Telstra’s top-end $123 plan comes with unlimited free national calls per month and 20GB of data.

Here is the full list of plans. [Note: Tables are automatically updated to reflect current pricing and may change over time.]

Our pick: Most users will be better off with the $110 plan. This nets you unlimited calls/SMS and 6GB of data. Heavy data users may want to plump for the next plan up which offers 15GB per month, although you need to pay an extra $35 per month for the privilege.

Optus’s cheapest plan for the Galaxy Note 7 is $71 per month which nets you unlimited national calls/SMS and 1GB of data. This is the best entry level plan in terms of bang-for-buck, although most users will still struggle on a monthly data allowance of 1GB.

The top-end plan packs in 20GB of data for $120 which is just $3 cheaper than Telstra’s most expensive offering. It also comes with unlimited calls and text.

Here is the full list of plans. [Note: Tables are automatically updated to reflect current pricing and may change over time.]

Our pick: If you’ve got the cash, go for the 15GB $104 plan which provides more than double the data of the $96 plan.

Virgin Mobile is starting its Note 7 pricing at $67 which gets you $300 text/calls and a measly 300MB of data. The top-tier plans comes in at $120 and “only” provides 16GB of data.

Here is the full list of plans. [Note: Tables are automatically updated to reflect current pricing and may change over time.]

Our pick The $105 is probably your best bet here. It comes with a generous 15GB data allowance and unlimited call and text. If you don’t have crazy data demands, the $85/month plan if also worth a look.

Vodafone’s starting price for the Galaxy Note 7 is $74 per month. It comes with 500MB of data and unlimited calls/text. The most expensive plan will set you back $123. It comes with 20GB of data.

Here is the full list of plans. [Note: Tables are automatically updated to reflect current pricing and may change over time.]

Our pick: If your monthly data demands don’t exceed 8GB, the $95 plan would be our pick. (It’s only $3 more expensive per month than the 6GB offering.)

Conclusion

As you’d expect from a flagship phone release, plan hunters on a budget are going to struggle here: the cheapest plan is $67 per month and that nets you a useless 300MB of data. If money is tight, you might want to consider a plan featuring the previous Notes instead.

For everyone else, Virgin’s $92 plan probably provides the best value for money. You get unlimited calls and texts and 8GB of data which should be enough for the majority of users.