Apple taking UK pre-orders for iPhone 4S

Deep pockets

Given that you can get a decent sim-only deal for £10 per month, a 24 month contract at £46 per month means you are paying £864 for the phone (24 x £36). Don't know why anybody buys a bundled phone these days. Sim only and buy unlocked phone of your choice has to be the way to go. Great that Apple is selling unlocked direct to the public. At least they are providing that option directly.

By Philip on 7 Oct 2011

"However, anyone buying the handsets SIM free will need deep pockets"

At least there will be plenty of room for the iPhone 4S after they've been emptied of cash.

By Lacrobat on 7 Oct 2011

Deep pockets

Given that you can get a decent sim-only deal for £10 per month, a 24 month contract at £46 per month means you are paying £864 for the phone (24 x £36). Don't know why anybody buys a bundled phone these days. Sim only and buy unlocked phone of your choice has to be the way to go. Great that Apple is selling unlocked direct to the public. At least they are providing that option directly.

By Philip on 7 Oct 2011

While I agree that paying for the phone outright and getting a SIM only deal is cheaper, we don't all have £700 in our back pockets. I would be scared to take the phone out of the house if I had just paid £700. It doesn't seem as bad if I'm only paying in £36 instalments.

By ronwatson71 on 7 Oct 2011

Maybe if all phones had to be bought full price, SIM free..

.. then people would stop giving £500 devices to school children.
And nobody has £700 in the back pocket, agreed, but there's no reason why it shouldn't be in their savings account.

By cheysuli on 7 Oct 2011

Residuals

It's worth remembering that the residual value of an iphone after 2 years is exceptional - assuming it's in good condition. The fact tat the 4S is visually identical to the 4 means the 4 will still command good 2nd hand values in a years time when the 5 is on its way.

By j9chapman on 7 Oct 2011

Why £100?

I just bought a couple of 16Gb micro sd cards on Amazon for about £12 each. Careful to buy direct from Amazon so they're probably not pirate.

So why does it cost £100 to go from a 16Gb iPhone to a 32Gb version?

By revsorg on 7 Oct 2011

It can make sense

We just replaced a Three 3g dongle with an 32Gb iPad 2 and MiFi dongle from Three. We save around £80 on the total cost, which is also spread over 2 years.

By revsorg on 7 Oct 2011

Money sense

Paying £860 for a £500 loan over two years is an APR of about 45% p.a. And that is before people forget at the end of the two year contract to either change the phone or go sim only so they keep paying for the phone a second time at 45% interest. No wonder the mobile company's make money. But our fault if we let them. Only saying...

By Philip on 7 Oct 2011

Our monthly payment went up from £16/month for the USB dongle to £25/month for the MiFi/iPad. Our data allowance also trebled. There was a lot of maths involved in figuring out whether it was a good deal, and it was an excellent example of the phone company putting their best people in sales.

By revsorg on 7 Oct 2011

Just out of interest...

How much do similarly specced smartphones cost SIM free with no contract?

By SwissMac on 7 Oct 2011

Pretty similar, actually

Whilst I perceive Apple computer hardware to be good quality but pricey (maybe I am wrong). But I think the iPhone is pretty competitively priced without a contract and I applaud the fact that they make it easy to buy direct. People might prefer Android or WP7, but for the hardware I think it is competitive.

By Philip on 7 Oct 2011

Just out of interest...

How much do similarly specced smartphones cost SIM free with no contract?

By SwissMac on 7 Oct 2011

@SwissMac

Just looking at Amazon: currently £289 for the LG Optimus X2, and £325 for the Atrix. Both, like the new iPhone4S, are standard, one generation old, sim-free 16gb models (not that internal storage is much of an issue with a microSD slot).

GS2 and Sensation, if you are also comparing current generation smartphones, are on Amazon for £399 and £389, respectively.

By TheHonestTruth on 7 Oct 2011

Q1) Who needs 64Gb

Answer: Someone who thinks £699 is ok for a phone.
Q2) Who needs it on a phone?
Dunno!

By milliganp on 7 Oct 2011

@milliganp

Couldn't agree more.
The answers to both is - idiots.
Everyone's talking about the merits of contract vs outright purchase. Talking in hundreds of pounds.
For what?
A bloody telephone!
The answer again is - idiots.

By RedForest on 8 Oct 2011

Given that an 8GB iPod Touch 4th gen cost around £180 and this surely contains most of the key parts of an iPhone (aside from the actual phone!), surely £430 is a bit steep?

By halsteadk on 8 Oct 2011

64GB

@milliganp, @RedForest

But it depends if you also use it as your MP3 player, personal organiser, portable games machine, portable video player, sat nav, etc because you don't want to carry several devices - then it is not just a phone. If you just want a phone, Tesco sells them for £10.

I was a cheapskate and bought into the Apple iOS technology at the lowest possible level (8GB iPod Touch) - but it simply isn't enough to make the most of it without spending excessive time managing its contents. Of course, had I bought one with 16GB, I'd probably still be wanting more...

The real issue here is that Apple does not allow memory to be expanded (at all, let alone with an industry standard, low cost format).

By halsteadk on 8 Oct 2011