Let the 2014 Smartphone wars begin – HTC, Samsung about to hit the market

HTC and Samsung this week announce their Australian launch plans for their 2014 flagship phones, the One M8 and Galaxy S5 respectively.  With Apple sticking to the 5s and 5c until likely later this year it’s the next 4-5 months where Samsung and HTC have the chance to impress and woo potential buyers.  Details on the devices and prices will flow this week.

Here’s what we know right now.

The HTC One (M8) is the high quality aluminium build successor to the well-respected 2013 phone of the year – the HTC One.   It should be available next week with Optus touting a shipping date of April 1.

Optus have the HTC One M8 at $58 per month on their $35 plan with a $23 handset repayment. 200mins of talk and just 200mb of data with unlimited texts doesn’t make it the ultimate smartphone plan.

The sweet spot for Optus is the $72 per month deal, which is a $60 plan and $12 handset payment, giving you 600mins of talk, 1.5GB of data and unlimited sms.

Over at Vodafone the lowest price is $52 per month, that’s a $30 plan with a $22 handset payment.  But with just $300 of “calls and texts” plus just 300mb of data again – it’s not the ideal plan for such a top line smartphone.   You’re definitely better off at the $75 a month mark, which gives you the $65 Vodafone Red plan with 1.5GB of data and unlimited calls and texts.

Telstra have the HTC One M8 on their $70 Mobile Accelerate Plan plus a $12 handset repayment per month making it an $82 per month prospect with $700 worth of included calls,and MMS, and unlimited SMS all to standard Australian numbers and 1.5GB of data. Telstra are also selling the M8 outright in Telstra stores for $840.

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 will be announced locally tonight in Sydney, we’ll update details as they are available.