Mobile Phone Upgrade Strategy

cloudwalker_3

At the moment I'm on the cusp of being able to upgrade my phone via my service provider, EE, and I'm starting to think through the options. I'm on a sim only deal* currently which (according to Billmonitor) costs me an average of £11.06pm.

My current phone is an iPhone 6s+, paired with a mophie juice battery pack. I've had it for about four years now and it works fine, so I'm not in a situation where I desperately need to upgrade but it is something that I probably intend to do at some point in the nearish future.  Up until now, my strategy has generally been to try to get a good phone with a decent amount of storage so that I can make it 'last' longer.

Based on this, when I do upgrade, it'll most probably be to something like the iPhone 11 Pro Max with 512Gb on board (I'm a graphic designer/photographer so I want a large screen, the additional camera tech and the storage based on my usage pattern).

The stuff that's perplexing me, and that I'm looking for suggestions and advice on, is this - is it better to buy a new Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max from Apple, or get a refurbished one, and stick with a SIM only deal, or get a new one via an upgrade, but be tied into a contract?

Here's what I've come up with so far...

Option 1 - If I buy the phone (from Apple) it'll cost (including Applecare) £1,698.00, (they do interest-free credit over two years which equates to £70.28pm). This means my monthly SIM only deal bill will stay low - Billmonitor is suggesting a move onto Three which (including 5G) will cost £8.50pm. Assuming that I went down this route and took up the interest-free offer my bill is going to be £70.28 + £8.50 = £78.78pm for 24 months and then it'll reduce to £8.50pm. If I downgrade slightly to a 4G contract I'm looking at £70.28 + £7.76 = £78.04pm for 24 months and then it'll reduce to £7.76.

Option 2 - If I want to reduce the cost of the phone I could buy refurbished. I found this site - Smart Cellular - and I can get the phone in (what they describe as) pristine condition for £1,089.99 (I've never heard of them before so any user feedback would be appreciated). Although they include a trashy third-party USB cable it doesn't come with the accessories that you get with a new phone. To buy these from Apple (USB-C to Lightning Cable, 18W USB-C Power Adapter and EarPods with Lightning Connector), you're looking at an additional £127.00, bringing the total cost to £1,216.99. Assuming that I went down this route, and got a loan from my bank at 9.9% the monthly cost will be £55.86 + £8.50 = £64.36 for 24 months and then reduce to £8.50pm (5G) or  £55.86 + £7.76 = £63.62 for 24 months and then reduce to £7.76pm (4G).

Option 3 - If I upgrade, and get the phone as part of the deal (and downgrade the storage to 256Gb) Billmonitor is pointing me towards Tesco Mobile and a 24 month deal that equates to £75.67pm.

Any thoughts on all this would be really appreciated. Apologies for the complexity, which is starting to erode my brain cells!

*My basic tariff costs are £19.40, but I get a £9.00 discount on this which brings it down to £10.40pm.

I get unlimited texts and unlimited calls (on my last bill I paid just £1.10 for a couple of 0845 calls). I get 10GB free data  - I use an average of 1.25Gb a month, although I'd want to keep the large'ish data allowance as a back up in case I need to tether my laptop while working - I'm a photojournalist and sometimes need to upload images from the street.

Martin_the_Unjust

It is always cheaper to buy the phone you want and pair it with a sim only deal. 

Your sim sim only deal looks expensive have you shopped around for a better one?

cloudwalker_3

Martin_the_Unjust said: It is always cheaper to buy the phone you want and pair it with a sim only deal. 

Your sim sim only deal looks expensive have you shopped around for a better one?

Thanks for the reply Martin. In terms of the SIM only deal, When I checked my usage through Billmonitor (which I think is pretty good - if you know of a better comparison site let me know though), the figures I used above (£8.50pm for 5G, £7.76pm for 4G) were the best costs it could come up with for my average and expected mix of calls/texts/data.

Frozen_up_north

Like the OP, my iPhone (an SE) lasted 4 years before I recently bought another (SE 2020 model). The old one could have been improved for the cost of a replacement battery. So factor in the possibility of replacing a phone every 4 years, as opposed to the network deals that appear to want users to “upgrade” every 2.

Beware of 5G, there is only patchy coverage at the moment and none of the current iPhones have 5G (only 4G gigabit over LTE). There maybe a 5G iPhone later in the year, but don’t hold your breath. Also, some networks charge extra for faster data plans (Voda and EE)... check carefully!

cloudwalker_3

Frozen_up_north said: ... The old one could have been improved for the cost of a replacement battery. So factor in the possibility of replacing a phone every 4 years, as opposed to the network deals that appear to want users to “upgrade” every 2.

Thanks for the reply Frozen. Really helpful stuff.

My thinking on this kind of upgrade stuff is the same as yours it would seem, not least of all because I give a damn about the massive environmental impact that the manufacture and flippant disposal of millions of electronic devices has on our planet.

Personally, I tend to use the phones that I own for around two to three years and then get the battery replaced and/or get a Morphie battery pack for them for some extra power. I said I've had my current phone for around four years but in truth, it might actually be even longer than this.

... Beware of 5G, there is only patchy coverage at the moment and none of the current iPhones have 5G (only 4G gigabit over LTE). There maybe a 5G iPhone later in the year, but don’t hold your breath. Also, some networks charge extra for faster data plans (Voda and EE)... check carefully!

Good tip on the 5G thing. I didn't know about the 4G gigabit over LTE situation (Apple place this [helpfully!] in very, very tiny text at the bottom of the technical specification page) so I think I'll probably go for a 4G contract at this stage.

liggerz87

You could get the galaxy fold as has bug screen but it us nearly 2k ee and voda now sell it but then again can use a tablet and by looks of it your tied into the apple eco system 

burner01

You’re seriously thinking of taking out a bank loan to fund a new phone?

christ on a bike.....

japitts

cloudwalker_3 said:

At the moment I'm on the cusp of being able to upgrade my phone via my service provider, EE, and I'm starting to think through the options. I'm on a sim only deal* currently which (according to Billmonitor) costs me an average of £11.06pm.

Option 3 - If I upgrade, and get the phone as part of the deal (and downgrade the storage to 256Gb) Billmonitor is pointing me towards Tesco Mobile and a 24 month deal that equates to £75.67pm.

Any thoughts on all this would be really appreciated. Apologies for the complexity, which is starting to erode my brain cells!

I'll comment only on the tech side and not the costings...

Tesco Mobile is an MVNO on O2, which means a totally different network to what you're used to - and also piggyback service rather than being with the network directly. It could be absolutely fine, but if you're considering option 3 I would recommend you get hold of a PAYG SIM from (ideally) Tesco, or (should be ok) O2, and trial that to make sure of coverage and speeds where you need it.

SteveOk

My strategy looks like this: I always buy a new iPhone that came out a year ago. Because of the low price. Always use with cover and protective glass. After 2 to three years I sell it on eBay like new. The loss in value is very small.

GTR_King

My advice if you want a new Iphone is to get the 2020 SE (Outright or cheap contract) or wait till September for the when the new iPhones get announced as the 11, 11 Pro/Pro Max will be a bit cheaper