The new iPhone will likely be Apple’s best-selling model yet, not least because all the operators are offering an iPhone 4S deal.
In contrast, the early days of the iPhone saw only one UK operator touting the phone, which at least kept life simple!
So which is the best iPhone 4S deal?
I don’t plan on replacing my 3GS model – it seems like only yesterday I justified buying an iPhone [1], and it’s been brilliant for basic email and web access on the move. The camera is terrible, but that can wait.
However my friend A. is mad for the new iPhone 4S. He’s a tech developers’ dream. He says he’s bored to tears with his current iPhone. He likes learning all the fresh capabilities of new hardware (that I resent having to think about) and he likes his web browser to load 0.013 seconds faster.
The good news is he’s a deal hound, and he’s compared all the two-year iPhone 4S deals out there. And as he’s also a Monevator reader, he’s agreed to share his data with you!
Here are his best deals, for the 16GB followed by the 32GB model.
- All deals are for 24 months, which cuts costs compared to the 18 month deals and hopefully keeps you in sequence with Apple’s product release cycle.
- All costs are on a monthly basis. For the handset cost, the initial purchase price has therefore been divided by 24. This is the most effective way of seeing which deal is the best.
iPhone 4S deals: 16GB
| O2 | Orange | Vodafone | T-Mobile | 3 | |
| Model | 16GB | 16GB | 16GB | 16GB | 16GB |
| Mins | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 500 |
| Texts | 500 | Unlimited | 500 | Unlimited | 5,000 |
| Data | 1GB | 1GB | 250+500MB* | 3GB | 1GB |
| ——- | |||||
| Plan | £15.50 | £31.00 | £26.00 | £25.54 | £35.00 |
| Data | £10.00 | Inc. | £5.00 | £5.10 | Inc. |
| Handset | £12.50 | £7.08 | £14.96 | £10.00 | £2.04 |
| ——- | |||||
| Monthly | £38.00 | £38.08 | £45.96 | £40.64 | £37.04 |
| Shop | O2 [2] | Orange [3] | Vodafone [4] | T-Mobile [5] | 3 [6] |
*Vodafone 500MB bolt-on is an unadvertised option that A. had confirmed over the phone.
iPhone 4S deals: 32GB
| O2 | Orange | Vodafone | T-Mobile | 3 | |
| Model | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB | 32GB |
| Mins | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 500 |
| Texts | 500 | Unlimited | 500 | Unlimited | 5,000 |
| Data | 1GB | 1GB | 250+500MB | 3GB | 1GB |
| ——- | |||||
| Plan | £15.50 | £31.00 | £26.00 | £25.54 | £35.00 |
| Data | £10.00 | Inc. | £5.00 | £5.10 | Inc. |
| Handset | £16.67 | £11.25 | £18.29 | £15.83 | £5.79 |
| ——- | |||||
| Monthly | £42.17 | £42.25 | £49.29 | £46.47 | £40.79 |
| Shop | O2 [2] | Orange [3] | Vodafone [4] | T-Mobile [5] | 3 [6] |
*Vodafone 500MB bolt-on is an unadvertised option that A. had confirmed over the phone.
Conclusion
The difference between the cheapest and most expensive 16GB iPhone 4S deal is £214 over the two years.
That’s a fair bit of money to save towards your iPhone 5G!
For the 32GB deals, the difference is £204.
Those outliers aside, I am surprised by how superficially similar all the iPhone 4S deals are once you break the costs down on a monthly basis. I suppose that is a gold star for increased competition (and a black mark against holding shares in mobile operators for the long term).
Many people won’t do too badly choosing on the basis of their preferred or existing operator. Some people may be swayed by unlimited texts or extra data.
My friend A. isn’t a fan of the cheapest option, 3, so it’ll likely be O2 for him.
If you’ve already got an iPhone or a relationship with one of these companies, then it may be worth trying to wangle a deal by calling them. Apple is pretty inflexible with its carriers, though, so I don’t know how much room for negotiation they’d have.
Negotiated a great iPhone 4S deal? Let us know below!