Samsung Galaxy S4 UK price - EE, O2, Vodafone, T-mobile, Orange

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Posted on 28 Mar 2013 at 11:43, by Tom Morgan

Now that Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone is finally official - putting endless leaks and rumours to rest - excited fans are turning their attention to where they can pick one up.

First, the bad news - in the UK at least, there's still a long wait until the phone goes on sale. Samsung has officially said the 26th of April, assuming enough handsets can be produced in time and there are no manufacturing issues, like the ones experienced by HTC for its One smartphone. At least pre-orders have officially started, as of March 28th.

NETWORK PROVIDERS

Currently, EE is the only UK network that will have the Galaxy S4 on super-fast 4G mobile broadband, but you'll have to pay for the privilege - on a £31 a month contract, which includes 500MB of data, unlimited calls and unlimited texts, you'll have to pay a whopping £270 upfront. The £41 a month contract, with 1GB of data, needs an £80 down payment, and even the most expensive £76 a month contact, with 20GB of data allowance, needs a £20 deposit.

EE is the only place for a 4G Galaxy S4 right now

If you're prepared to wait, Three will sell the Galaxy S4 as on a 4G-ready Ultrafast contract, which will automatically tick over from DC-HSPA+ 3G to faster 4G speeds once its LTE network is switched on. It won't cost you any extra and you won't need a new contract or SIM card, so the process should be pretty painless. You can get the phone for free on a £35 a month contract, which gives you 500 minutes, 5,000 texts and all-you-can-eat data.

Three will get 4G soon, but not by the time the Galaxy S4 launches

Vodafone is listing the Galaxy S4 as 4G-ready. However, unlike Three, its possible that 4G will cost you more than a 3G contract. Vodafone's blurb says that once 4G arrives, "we can talk about adding Vodafone 4G to your monthly plan" - suggesting you'll need to talk to the company rather than having everything handled automatically. For a free phone you'll have to sign up to a £42 a month contract, which includes unlimited minutes and texts, along with 2GB of data.

Vodafone will sell the Galaxy S4 as 4G-ready, but it could cost you extra for faster internet

O2 is still refusing to reveal the details of its planned 4G rollout, but if you're just interested in the phone and not faster mobile broadband, you can pre-order the phone for £99 upfront on a £37 a month contract with unlimited texts, unlimited calls and 2GB of data. To get the phone for free, you'll have to pay £47 a month for your contract.

HIGH STREET STORES

If you'd rather visit a bricks-and-mortar shop to pick up a Galaxy S4, you can pre-order at both Carphone warehouse and Phones4U today. Both will be selling the phone on a range of contracts from all the major network providers, as well as the range of official accessories. If you're quick, Carphone Warehouse are giving the first 2,000 contract customers a free 7in Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, whereas all pre-order customers at Phones4U qualify for £100 of Google Play Store credit. You can also buy the phone SIM-free for £630.

The carphone warehouse Galaxy S4 landing page...

...and the Phones4U page.

ONLINE RETAILERS

Finally, if you're looking for a SIM-free handset, online retailers Expansys and Clove both have Galaxy S4 landing pages. Clove is asking £580, while Expansys has yet to update its price from "coming soon".

As it stands, the Galaxy S4 looks to be the most expensive of the new wave of 5in, Full HD smartphones. Both HTC's One and Sony's Xperia Z can be found on contract and SIM-free for less, although neither have Samsung's gorgeous AMOLED display.