MSE News: Apple launches new iPhones – and reveals prices

minislim

i got the first iphone just as it came out.

the rrp of that phone was £600!

yet i got it free on an 18 month contract for £35 a month with a good allowance on mins and texts plus unlimited data.

fast forward five years and the rrp of the current iphone 5 is £500 yet you can only get it mainly on 24 month contracts consting upwards of £32 per month with poor allowances. and in some cases you still have to pay something towards the phone.

all the networks make out their tarrifs are better value than a few years ago.

but this doesnt seem to be the case.

oh and apple had better loose their annoying "locking to the first sim" function that they have. its put so many people off getting one!

you pay all that money and apple lock you to one network. cheeky!

NFH

minislim wrote: »

fast forward five years and the rrp of the current iphone 5 is £500 yet you can only get it mainly on 24 month contracts consting upwards of £32 per month with poor allowances. and in some cases you still have to pay something towards the phone.

all the networks make out their tarrifs are better value than a few years ago.

but this doesnt seem to be the case.

Why not pay full price (e.g. £549 for an iPhone 5S 16GB) and get a SIM-only contract for £10/month? I pay £9 to Orange for 325 minutes, 150 SMS (redundant in the days of iMessage, WhatsApp, Viber etc), 800MB and unlimited calls to Orange numbers or landlines.

A bundled iPhone and service contract is nearly always more expensive. These bundles are aimed at the "buy now pay later" consumers rather than more savvy consumers who save up for what they want. If someone can't afford £549 in one hit, then the iPhone 5S is probably not appropriate to their financial situation; it is a premium product.

minislim wrote: »

oh and apple had better loose their annoying "locking to the first sim" function that they have. its put so many people off getting one!

you pay all that money and apple lock you to one network. cheeky!

That is not true. All SIM-free iPhones sold by Apple never become SIM-locked. You're thinking of the Carphone Warehouse who use the same stock of iPhones for all networks and for SIM-free. Their iPhones do become SIM-locked to the first SIM card inserted, even if you buy it SIM-free. This is because most of their stock is intended to be SIM-locked.

Percy1983

I think I made the right choice in a free lumia 520 on a £7.50 a month contract, look even apple are copying the covers (got yellow on mine right now).

Netwizard

Percy1983 wrote: »

I think I made the right choice in a free lumia 520 on a £7.50 a month contract, look even apple are copying the covers (got yellow on mine right now).

I also have a lumia 520. Its my first smartphone so I cant comment on android or iphone devices but the lumia is super smooth and has all the apps I need.

Whilst I do love the look of the iphone, I cant justify £480 extra for the base model 5S

My lumia at the moment has a 64gb memory card in it. To get that on the 5s its £709??!! Madness when my 64gb card cost £40.

But at the end of the day, its horses for courses. I dont sit glued to my phone like all my friends seem too and I feel sorry for those that have to have the newest iphone to show off..

Also.... £709 for a top of the range iphone.....my car cost only slightly more than that :rotfl:

prowla

I was given a Lumia 520 by my work when we shifted from Blackberrys, and it is a pile of cheap toot.

I've put it back in its box and am using an old iPhone 3S instead.

Netwizard

prowla wrote: »

I was given a Lumia 520 by my work when we shifted from Blackberrys, and it is a pile of cheap toot.

I've put it back in its box and am using an old iPhone 3S instead.

What did you find was wrong with it? I ask as this is my first smartphone so always interesting to get other peoples opinions :beer:

wondermouse

Number29 wrote: »

I think you underestimate the vast difference in user experience, enjoyment and support between these two platforms. It easily makes iOS worth paying more for if you ask me (my Galaxy S3 toting sister and partner would most definitely agree based on how shocking the S3 is!).

Abso-bloody-lutely!

I have an S3 as it was the best non-iphone out at the time. While it's not bad, it's laggy and tempermental, and in no way matches the user experience of my iPad 2, which just works. (most of the time)

The experience has put me right off android. I don't want to wait 10 seconds between pressing a button and being able to look at my contacts list. :mad:

I'm no apple fanboi, but I've yet to see an android phone that fulfills its promise. (I've not played with an S4 yet). Having said that, the S3 has a replaceable battery, and an SD card slot. How apple get away with charging £100 for 16Gb of memory is beyond me, And 25 quid for a plastic dock adaptor that should have been supplied in the box?

I suppose the biggest disappointment was the price of the 5Cs. They should have started at £299 and they would have sold like hot cakes. Maybe they still will, but with less than £100 difference with the superior 5S I honestly can't see who they're aimed at.

Percy1983

prowla wrote: »

I was given a Lumia 520 by my work when we shifted from Blackberrys, and it is a pile of cheap toot.

I've put it back in its box and am using an old iPhone 3S instead.

Netwizard wrote: »

What did you find was wrong with it? I ask as this is my first smartphone so always interesting to get other peoples opinions :beer:

I am guessing the problem was it wasn't an iPhone:rotfl:

I will say as I have owned/used other smart phones you are on a winner, I can honestly say in normal tasks its a slick/nice as any top end phone (yes even the iphone5 and S4).

Of course being a budget phone its not got quite as much raw power and the camera isn't as good, but I mostly use my phone as a phone so that is fine.

As far as budget phones go apple have nothing close in price and lower budget androids are usual older version of android and chug along.

I will say this is the biggest think going for windows, in core tasks its the same, literally no difference form the top end windows phone to the bottom end.

ohbilly

My experiences with Android were quite negative and I got sick of the phone locking up or crashing so I am quite happy (personally) to pay the premium for an iPhone/ios.

It does the job I want it to do and it's relatively straightforward and reliable which suits me quite well :money:

Kite2010

Once you go apple, you can never go back...

...although hasn't Apple introduced a "go back" feature with iOS7?