Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge flagships earlier this month, and they made a pretty good first impression - not just for us, but also for the 20 million or so people who registered to buy the devices in the first week after the announcement.
Today, pre-orders have opened in the UK for the two handsets, giving British buyers their first clear indications of how much each one will cost.
EE, O2, Three and Vodafone are all offering both the S6 and S6 Edge, although not all of these carriers are stocking every variant of the two devices. For example, EE - the UK"s largest 4G network - is only offering the S6 in 32GB and 64GB flavours, while the S6 Edge is available only with 64GB of storage.
O2, meanwhile, has a complete set of storage options - and will even throw in a free Fitbit Charge - but the model that you choose will affect the delivery date of your device. 128GB models aren"t currently available for pre-order at all, but O2 will eventually sell them.
With so many price plans available from multiple carriers, there are simply too many options to list the full range of upfront charges and monthly costs - and freebies like O2"s Fitbit deal only muddy the waters further. If you"re planning to pre-order the new devices on contract, be sure to shop around for the best deal.
Carphone Warehouse is offering a free wireless charger with all Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge pre-orders. In addition to contract sales for leading UK networks, the retailer is also offering the S6 (but not the Edge) off-contract, at the following prices:
- Galaxy S6 32GB: £599.99
- Galaxy S6 64GB: £659.99
- Galaxy S6 128GB: £739.99
SIM-free pre-orders for the Galaxy S6 Edge are not yet available from Carphone Warehouse, but Samsung"s website lists the price of the 64GB model at £760 - a premium of £100 over the equivalent S6. The company hasn"t yet revealed the price of the 128GB S6 Edge - it"s still listed as "TBC" (to be confirmed) - but based upon the same £100 difference, it seems likely that this model will cost around £840 off-contract.
If you pre-order direct from Samsung, you"ll get your handset a day earlier than everyone else, with deliveries beginning on April 9. But wherever you make your purchase, bear in mind that neither the Galaxy S6 nor the S6 Edge include a microSD card slot, so you"ll be limited to the handset"s onboard storage.
Be sure to check out our first impressions of both devices during our brief hands-on time at their launch.