If you can spare the money for an S-series phone (even last year's model etc to get a better price or see if you can get refurbished/second hand) then I'd try for that. I have both a personal S21 and a work A73 and the difference is night and day in favor of the S21 despite its age. Many things are so much better on the S21. E.g. I often take work photos/videos on the S21 and share it over to my A73 rather than use the A73's camera itself (which struggles to focus in photo mode, and there are very noticeable dropped frames and random focus issues in video mode that appears when you playback a video recorded by the A73). The performance of the A73 can be weak too -- apps that are snappy on the S21 perform sluggishly on the A73.
The S is more expensive up front but if you take into account it'll last longer than an A-series and performs much better it may be worth the investment and you buy a good case to protect from drops etc. My S21 still goes strong nearly 4 years later and still get software updates etc. Battery life is still great. I am really glad I didn't go for an cheaper A-series going by my experience with my work phone.
Regardless of the model you get, for any Android phone, I would definitely buy from a NZ telco (or a major NZ store that sells the official NZ version e.g. Noel Leeming etc) to ensure you get the NZ model. For some years now, Samsung makes one model for the entire NZ market so it'll work fine across all 3 carriers should you want to change between 2deg/One/Spark in the future. I wouldn't risk a parallel imported phone with all the trouble they have with VoLTE support which will be required from 2026 onwards for voice/SMS calling including emergency 111 calls/texts.
Some good points for sure.
It's not a matter of whether I can spare the money but rather my son; we've told him how much we'll provide and he needs to meet the cost above this amount. (All part of teaching one's child to manage their money...)
I have discussed the options of the S series with him. He did look at the S23 FE but it's not worth the additional amount over the A55. I had discussed passing on my S21U but its back is cracked in a few places (why glass?!) and the battery life isn't amazing. I also think he's over Samsung and wants a change - I know that feeling, having dabbled with LG and OnePlus before coming back to Samsung. This is the safe and sensible option, for sure, and the one I recommended; but teenagers aren't safe or sensible!
BTW, there has been a decent shift between the A73 and A55 (noting it's two years/gens on) - the tests quoted here show the A55 out-performing the A73 by a decent margin; but, yep, the S21 does still out-perform the A55 (but obviously units bought now will be s/h).
You should be able to get Samsung phones much cheaper direct from Samsung using codes, e.g.: BF2024 -$100, LOYAL50 -$50, start a chat and ask for a unique survey code -$50, -10% for first purchase if you download the samsung store on a samsung device & if you have something to trade at least -$100.
Which should get you to at most $400 without trade in.
You should be able to get Samsung phones much cheaper direct from Samsung using codes, e.g.: BF2024 -$100, LOYAL50 -$50, start a chat and ask for a unique survey code -$50, -10% for first purchase if you download the samsung store on a samsung device & if you have something to trade at least -$100.
Which should get you to at most $400 without trade in.
Legend!
Yep, managed to get the A55 down to $395, which was enough of an enticement to convince my older kid to go with that over the Nothing (given he'd have been paying the difference) and also encourage my younger one to go with this over him inheriting my S21U when I upgrade.
The only problem was I accidentally ordered one in the wrong colour! (It defaults to ice blue so it needs to be an active selection to choose the other), so the jury's out as to whether I can get them to swap it before it ships, as online or phone help for orders isn't available at weekends, weirdly/annoyingly - happy to sell you a phone just not help you with the order!)
KiwiSurfer: The S is more expensive up front but if you take into account it'll last longer than an A-series and performs much better it may be worth the investment and you buy a good case to protect from drops etc. My S21 still goes strong nearly 4 years later and still get software updates etc.
Bear in mind that the S21 only gets 4 years of system updates, security updates continue until Jan 2027
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