How much do people pay for a phone?

BowdonUK · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:03

I'm looking to buy a new payg phone but wow, some of the prices are very high.

I'm with Three, so I've been looking at their page. The highest priced one is £2,343.05

Who is paying that amount for a phone? That's more than some gaming PC's.

So how much on average have you bought a phone for?

Or do you get it on contract? I've heard that getting a phone via contract works out even higher. Though I've never done it in practice myself.

SonicSW20 · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:09

Contract. Being a long time Vodafone customer I seem to be able to get very reasonable deals - last one was 30% discount so am paying ~£36 a month for a Sony Xperia 1 (also came with a PS4), usual unlimited calls/text, 50GB data. There was an up front fee of ~£100, but that ended up being waived due to some issues with the order.

£36 * 24 = £864.
Xperia 1 RRP = £849
PS4 = ~£200

Pretty decent deal overall.

neoboy · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:13

For me personally, it's been a mixture of paying upfront for a phone and taking out SIM only contracts and just straight up 24 months contracts that include a phone. I tend to look at the total ownership cost and decide from there.

Generally you get a much better deal from resellers than buying directly from a major Network, but saying that Three have been pumping out some excellent deals recently, one of which I'm on now. You can also get good deals around Black Friday and other holidays when it may also work out cheaper.

Of course if you don't have the money or interest free credit available to you then paying up front for a device may be a non-option to start with.

At the moment with Three on unlimited minutes and texts with 100GB data, for £25 a month with £29 upfront for Samsung S10e. Also received £65 cashback via Quidco.

Squink · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:17

A well-intentioned thread but one that will drag up the usual 'phones are too pricey' and 'contract is better than SIM only' (or vice versa) arguments.

OpenToSuggestions · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:19

Once you pick the phone you want make sure you use Uswitch to compare deals, as it shows the 'overall contract cost'. I realise this is not hard to work out, but when casually browsing it really makes clear how much a contract will cost you over the whole period.

chroniclard · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:21

Generally use comparison sites that have the TCO on them. Total cost of ownership.

Don't bother with flagship phones anymore they are not worth it. I don't upgrade till mine breaks. Still on a Huawei P20and it's, touch wood, still mint after 2 years.

OpenToSuggestions · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:24

chroniclard said:
Generally use comparison sites that have the TCO on them. Total cost of ownership.

Don't bother with flagship phones anymore they are not worth it. I don't upgrade till mine breaks. Still on a Huawei P20and it's, touch wood, still mint after 2 years.

I have to say I agree. When my S8 breaks I will see what I fancy, but in the meantime....not a chance in swapping it!

bloodiedathame · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:30

£200 is my limit

Ritzo · 25 Mar 2020 at 11:42

I'm on SIMO, and aim to get 18-24 months out of a new device so am willing to spend around the £500-600 mark. If you factor in the amount of use, compared to other gadgets, electronic items etc. then it is quite good value really.

silvagti · 25 Mar 2020 at 12:02

Personally I'd say £500 would be my upper limit for a phone but for that it would have to offer something substantially better than a cheaper phone.

My feeling at the moment is that 'flagship' phones are no longer justifiably better than your average ~£100-200 phone. Certainly not like the difference you'd have seen between something like an £500 iPhone and budget Android phone back in 2010.

That's my feeling really. What can a £2000 phone do that a £200 phone can't? If it's costing 10 times the price it had better offer some serious improvements for that price premium.

Squink · 25 Mar 2020 at 12:35

silvagti said:
What can a £2000 phone do that a £200 phone can't?.

Fold

Akagi · 25 Mar 2020 at 12:39

I buy friends phones off of them for cheap after they upgrade, or they give them to me, particularly if they were broken... I currently have a Nokia 8 which was given to me for free... It can do everything useful that a £1000 phone can do.

5.3" 1440P screen, Android 9.0, Octa core CPU (4x 2.5GHz & 4x 1.8GHz), 64GB storage, 4GB RAM, 13MP camera, 4K video recording, fingerprint reader, fast charge, good battery life, etc...

Rroff · 25 Mar 2020 at 12:46

Within reason I will pay to get the features I desire but I won't pay more than £500 otherwise and usually aim more about £300. TBH unless there is a big jump in feature set I will probably be quite happy with a sub £300 phone next my Note 4 still does everything I need or want other than being able to unfold into a more tablet like format for when that would be useful.

maj · 25 Mar 2020 at 13:28

For what I actually use a phone for I budget for around £200 with SIMO. Last two have both been Xiaomi as they offer a good price vs performance.

silvagti · 25 Mar 2020 at 13:35

Squink said:
Fold

You mean break in half

Dazstoke · 25 Mar 2020 at 15:11

I wouldn't want to spend more than £250,the most I've ever spent was £219 including £10 top up

keenan · 25 Mar 2020 at 15:22

silvagti said:
You mean break in half

Or just...break

GMac11 · 25 Mar 2020 at 16:43

For me I'd say £700 would the maximum, I've spent that figure a few times and somehow have managed not to spend more.
To echo what others have said I have flitted between contract and SIMO but I honestly think my contract days are behind me. I was SIMO for a few years until 2017 when I was in need of a new phone and at that time didn't have the reddies to buy one outright. There were some cracking black Friday deals for the Pixel 2xl on contract at the time so I bit. That contract ended last year and I'm back on SIMO and glad of it.
If you have identified a phone you want my personal advice is to wait a few months after release and buy outright, that's the cheapest form of ownership. I also accept that everyone's circumstances are different so do what's right for you. For contracts comparison uSwitch is a must.

Randomface74 · 25 Mar 2020 at 16:45

My last phone was the Galaxy S6, which was about £600.

But... now you can get better performance for about £300, so I'd probably do that if buying now.

I only do YouTube, Web, WhatsApp, so don't need a flagship.

Remember you only get 2-3 years of updates.

Bug One · 25 Mar 2020 at 16:49

I really wanted a P30 Pro on release - does everything I wanted. I waited 11 months till the P40 is about to be released and got a really good contract deal on it. I've now got 100gb data, unlimited everything else for £30 a month - plus the phone I wante. This worked out cheaper than buying the phone outright and going sim only - or getting it's nearest competitor (the Xiaomi Mi Note 10)

So - my advice, you can get great contract deals on 10 month ago flagship phones.