MSE News: iPhone 4S prices released by networks

ddazzler64

If you don't want to keep expensive tie in contracts, just buy the new iPhone (if you must) and use one of the cashback sites and an interest free for so-many-months creditcard. There are many to choose from in the "Cards' Loan" tab above.

This is what i have done with a Capital one card - it's free till Feb 13 and 5% cash back. Yay for Martin's insights.

Just saying it's an option and cheaper than 2 years with some poo signalled company who say the furture is bright, albeit with no consistent signal, but that's another forum lol

good luck people

chaz411989

For most of them, you're paying over £1000 over the two years! You may as well buy the phone sim free and go on giffgaff. That'd save you about £300!!!

Also the SGS2 can be found for only £17/month for 24 months and £130 upfront. Who'd buy the iPhone 4S at that price over the iphone 4 or the SGS2????

kanabara

The best deal is surely to buy the iphone sim free (£499) and then get a contract from a place like e2save that has cashback on redemption.

An example of this is the Samsung C3050 on T-Mobile - 300 mins, 300 txts, ultd data.

This contract works out to an effective price of £1.42 per month - 34.08 over the 24 months.

Factoring in quidco's £30 cashback, the total cost of owning an iphone 4s over the two year contract works out to £503.08!

Ive done this for my iphone 4 and it was no problem to phone the network and order a micro sim!

gjchester

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

I've just been chatting with an O2 Guru on O2's website who has told me that the 4S WON'T be available for order online at all on O2 on Friday. It will be sold in store online.

What a load of tosh! Think I'll be switching provider!

If it's like the Iphone4 release most stores will have limited stock, when the 4 came out I got mine from the Vodafone shop. The o2 store had 30-40 people queueing and the vodafone rep said they'd talked to the o2 people and they only had 8 phones each of the 16 and 32 version in stock so someone will be dissapointed.

Seemed an odd was to alienate your customers, make them wait then tell them there is no stock.

TenThirteen

I think the cheapest option for me is to continue with my existing 3 contract and buy the phone unlocked. Anyone know any cashback deals or anywhere to to buy the phone outright any cheaper than Apple's direct prices?

The Guardian website had a good price comparison article re: total cost of ownership: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/08/iphone-4s-uk-tariffs-graphical

tightus_wad

Wait until next year for the 5...Then your 2 year contract is in synch with major iPhone releases!

corbyboy

More free Apple advertising brought to you courtesy of MSE.

redcard

Yolina wrote: »

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-devices/2011/05/19/android-shoots-past-iphone-os-in-market-share-40092829/

and some figures specific to the "EU 5" smartphone market: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/9/Android_Captures_number_2_Ranking_Among_Smartphone_Platforms_in_EU5

edit: that was quick search and I can't really be bothered to spend time digging figures out... I'm also not saying people should/shouldn't buy this phone or that phone but I'd like to see MSE be fairer in their "news" section and provide info about other manufacturers too when relevant

Yes, but this is largely about 1 phone. The Android share is probably made up of 20+ phones.

So MSE can post once to cover the iPhone, or they can create 20+ posts for Android that will generate the same interest.

TenThirteen

tightus_wad wrote: »

Wait until next year for the 5...Then your 2 year contract is in synch with major iPhone releases!

Admittedly it does seem more sensible to wait. I'm currently on month 11 of a 24 month contract with 3 at £35 a month. I use a lot of minutes and the data as I'm self-employed and I get a lot of use out of my current smartphone (Nokia N8).

When I spoke to 3 yesterday their deal for me to get an iPhone 4S 64GB was £386 to terminate my existing contract then £229 payment for the new handset. I'd be signing up to a new 24 month contract at £38/month.

So my monthly cost would be about the same but £615 for the phone vs me getting it sim-free at £700 up front.

If I stuck with my current contract by November next year I'd be a good position to get my current minutes/usage for around £20/month (the rate it drops to when I've declined an upgrade) so I think sim-free is the best option for me at the moment - unless I can talk myself out of wanting a new phone.

Does anyone recall if the out of the box sim-free price drops significantly a few months after launch e.g. around Christmas time?

AMG37

Hopefully found a fairly good deal with vodafone - iphone 4s 32gb, has cashback with vodafone and quidco so handset will work out as £30-40. Contract is 24 months - 900mins, 750mb data, unlimited texts. Vodafone does quite a few company discounts (20%) including NHS so will cost about £32-33 a month which seems reasonable.