iPhone 6 - Buy upfront or pay monthly? (UK)

[Plexberry]

Hi there

Was just wondering what the general feeling is about buying the iPhone upfront? I'm based in UK, if that makes any difference to the view on buying up front or not.

I shall be getting the iPhone 6 in December (NOT the plus) and I had the idea of buying the iPhone upfront and then selling it every time theres a new model and buying the new one - that way I always have a new iPhone but more importantly I only spend £100 approx on a new one due to the rest being countered by the sale of my old phone.

Also - and perhaps more importantly - is the fact that I can then pick what contract I want and it will be rolling and cheaper. i.e no 24 month contract at £35+ a month

The downside to this idea is the high cost for the phone upfront, limited contract options (they WANT you to get it monthly) and my idea perhaps not working thus there fore I can't resale each year.

I wondered what the general consensus is on this?

What do most people on here do?

Thanks in advance

Chris

 

[geezerhiker]

Buy it outright

I'm probably the odd man out, but I bought my phone outright and use a "pay as you go" MVNO (H2O Wireless). I am a light user (not many phone calls and most of my network access on wi-fi) so I save the price of a phone in a matter of a few months compared to what my friends are paying for a contract.

If you are a heavy cell network user (lots of browsing, Siri, phone calls) this wouldn't work quite so well. But even then most MVNO's offer monthly unlimited calling plans that are much cheaper than the major carriers' plans. And the resale value on iPhones is very good.

 

[chscag]

Here in the US it really doesn't matter if you pay up front or pay monthly, as either way you're going to pay the full cost. Some folks like to buy their phone on a subsidized carrier contract as that breaks the cost down into payments that are easier to handle. Of course that ties them into a carrier contract for two years. When you pay up front for the phone that allows more freedom to choose whatever carrier you feel is best.

 

[docx]

If you buy up front you can save up too £200 over two years.
Sim only with 3 Mobile with unlimited data was £15 the last time i looked.
I was thinking I would do the same thing myself.

 

[Plexberry]

Yeah it's tough to know what to do! Thanks for input so far guys. I'll keep looking into to it.

In the meantime, it's not very helpful but here are a couple of UK based articles that give a little bit more of a view - but not much!

Where to buy iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the UK: iPhone 6 UK price, deals and contracts - PC Advisor

Want the new Apple iPhone 6? Here's our guide to the cheapest deals | This is Money

 

[Sawday]

If you buy up front you can save up too £200 over two years.
Sim only with 3 Mobile with unlimited data was £15 the last time i looked.
I was thinking I would do the same thing myself.

Remember to check coverage in your area for the providers that you're thinking about. Here in rural Yorkshire some providers have no signal whatsoever and forget 4G whoever you re with.. We don't all live in London!

 

[dbm]

I sometimes get a phone on contract, and sometimes buy direct from Apple. I'm not convinced that you save a huge amount by buying direct, but I haven't priced up SIM-only recently.

Re selling on your old phone, I guess it depends how you sell it. If you use a service like Mazuma then you might get a third of the original price back. So I would think it will cost you more than £100 to upgrade each year. You would get more selling on eBay I guess, but with the hassle / (minor) risk that entails.

 

[ballswinger]

Contract Vs SIM Free iPhone 6

I have to agree with you that owning a phone these days takes a lot more thought power ...

You really need to evaluate your usage to decide whether buying a SIM free phone and separate SIM only deal will benefit you overall.

I was lucky enough to pick up an extremely cheap SIM only deal in the Black Friday sales which gives 3000 minutes of calls, unlimited SMS and 3GB data for just £8 a month ... It was so good I purchased one for my wife as well!

Now that we have them it is VERY hard to give them up and so buying SIM free phones has been the way for some time.

Admittedly not an iPhone, but our latest purchase was a DooGee DG800 imported from China which has proved to be an excellent phone for just £70! (My wife is currently using it).

It's my turn next and so I'm still foraging through the January sales trying to find a bargain ... the best deal I've found is due to go live on the 4th as a one day deal over at Expansys for the Huawei Ascend P7 reduced to an amazing price of just £129!