Hi all,
Looking at purchasing a Samsung Galaxy s9 (because Galaxy is all I've ever known) online for the first time, but I've seen people talk about things like to make sure it's the Australian model because of things like band and other stuff..?
Don't have much of a clue on this stuff, so any help would be great.
Thanks in advance
I would definitely want to buy Australian stock with an Australian warranty if I was spending almost $1k on a phone online. I would happily pay a little extra on top of the price of an overseas model to have an Australian warranty
I purchased my Galaxy S9+ DualSim from a trusted eBay seller and it was shipped out of Taiwan. It is an international model has all the same bands as the Australian model but lacks local warranty.
For warranty I need to go through the seller directly.
I would have purchased locally if Samsung sold the S9+ DualSim in Australia; as I need DualSim I had to purchase overseas.
Buy the Australian model.
You'll get at least 2 years warranty and possible more.
I've pushed Samsung on a goodwill warranty 6 months after the expiry date to fix a cracked aftermarket screen when the original battery expanded.
The biggest difference between buying from overseas versus buying one locally (from local stores) would be the Manufacturer warranty.
Samsung has by default 2 years manufacturer warranty on Galaxy phones — you can get it repaired here in Australia if there's a fault.
If the phone was an international model then Samsung Australia won't touch it and will tell you to send it to whatever country it was made for repairs. You are still covered by the seller's warranty, which would most commonly be 12 months, but it could be a lot harder to contest / negotiate for repairs if the seller is someone like say, based in Hong Kong and isn't an Aussie business and aren't bound by our stricter consumer laws.
The other difference in the short term is the JBL Headphones promotion — buying from local retailers that are participating in the promo gets you a bonus pair of JBL Duet NC headphones.
There are several different models of the Galaxy S9 — all listed here with their respective LTE bands.