iPhone guide for more information on all the available iPhone models.
Right now, a traditional contract is the cheapest way to get it – but don’t go direct
Buying a new handset on a traditional mobile contract from the major mobile networks can be £100s more expensive than buying the handset outright and pairing with a cheap Sim.
Yet reseller sites such as Mobiles.co.uk*, e2save.com (both owned by Carphone Warehouse) and MobilePhonesDirect are almost always cheaper than going direct to the network. They can sometimes even undercut buying upfront – and right now we’ve found pre-order deals on EE, O2 and Vodafone that can save you up to £530 over the two-year contract for the same deal if bought direct, and up to £30 cheaper than a comparable handset and Sim combo.
Our top-pick iPhone XR deal with a 4GB data allowance works out £293 less than the same two-year deal direct from Vodafone. Via e2save.com*, if you’re a Vodafone newbie, you’ll get 4GB of data with unlimited minutes and texts for £23/month, though you’ll have to stump up a hefty £360 upfront – so £921 over the two years. That’s also about £30 cheaper over the two years than the cheapest alternative we found buying the phone upfront and pairing with an equivalent Sim.
How different ways of buying the iPhone compare
To show the savings you can make buying in the right way, we’ve compared the prices for an iPhone XR by taking it out on a traditional contract, buying from a mobile reseller or buying outright and pairing with a cheap Sim.
To compare the cost of handset plus allowance, we’ve used Plusnet’s £8/mth Sim with 3,000 minutes and 3,000 texts and 4GB of data as a benchmark, and used networks’ closest deals where there’s no direct equivalent.