Samsung’s cheap 5G phone has just landed in Australia

You'd be forgiven for thinking tech companies were done with new products for the year, but Samsung isn't clocking out just yet. Right in time for Christmas, the South Korean giant has dropped a brand new smartphone - one that just so happens to be their cheapest 5G offering yet.

Bringing next-gen speeds to the mid-range, the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G retails for $599, which is around half the price of both Samsung and Apple's 5G flagships. It's not currently available on a plan through any Aussie telcos, but there are already a few good outright deals going around, with Kogan slinging the speedy new device from $549.

Samsung's newest addition boasts a generous 6.6-inch Super AMOLED display, disrupted only by a teardrop 20MP selfie camera notch. Out the back, you'll find a quad-lens camera set-up comprising a 48MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide lens, 5MP macro lens and 5MP depth lens. Design-wise, the A42 5G features a striking prismatic look, available in either Prism Dot Black or Prism Dot White.

Under the hood, you'll find a Snapdragon 7225 processor with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (expandable up to 1TB). It's a setup Samsung is gearing towards keen mobile gamers, with the addition of 'Game Booster', designed to make graphics silky smooth and take cues from your usage pattern to maximise battery life, temperature and performance.

The A42 5G also houses a 5,000mAh battery which, on paper, translates to roughly 21-22 hours of internet usage, 34 hours of video playback and 130 hours of audio playback. There's also 15W fast charging to get you back to 100% in less time.

Going off specs alone the A42 5G certainly won't be giving its flagship cousins a run for their money, but as far as mid-range, 5G-enabled devices go, it seems like a pretty neat deal.