As ever, the absolute cheapest way to get one is to pay for the handset outright, from Apple, and then grab a SIM-only deal to use in it.
Credit card and SIM-only savings
The entry level iPhone 6s is going for £539 and the bog-standard 6s Plus will sell at £619. It sounds a lot, but in the long run buying can be cheaper than signing up for a pay-monthly contract.
For example, if you bought the iPhone 6s via Vodafone on a two-year contract, you’d get unlimited calls and texts, and 6GB of data in return for £45 a month. Over two years that’s £1,080.
If you instead bought the handset from Apple at £539 on a 0% purchase credit card, splitting up the repayments over 24 months, and then used a SIM-only deal with the same allowances from The People’s Operator at £14.99 (on a rolling one month contract), your grand, two-year total would be £898.76.
That’s a saving of £181.24.
Of course, the two hurdles here are being able (and happy enough) to take out a purchase credit card with a period of at least 24 months’ interest free, and then being comfortable with choosing a smaller network operator.
Most SIM-only deals are for 12 months though, which means you’d also have to sign up again at the end of year one.
If you have a spare handset to use in the interim, you can always recycle your old iPhone and get some cash to help with the up-front cost of the new iPhones.
The great benefit of the credit card/SIM-only route, however, is that the handset is yours to sell at any time. If, after 12 months, Apple looks set to drop the iPhone 7 – you could just sell your 6s and pay off the credit card balance.
Make allowances
6GB is actually quite a big data allowance for many users. If you were happy to reduce your allowances a bit, there are more savings up for grabs.
Buy the 6s from Apple and stick Giffgaff’s 2GB, unlimited texts, 500 minutes SIM in it for £12 a month and your two year cost drops to £827.
But if you don’t want to pay big money up front for the handset and prefer to use a pay monthly contract, our mobiles channel can help you to compare the best deals as we get them.
For instance, we have a two year deal with Vodafone at £39 a month, plus £59.99 up front – totalling £995.99 and giving you unlimited calls and texts, plus 6GB of data.
Whichever way you decide to buy, take your time comparing the deals and always work out the two-year cost factoring in the monthly payments plus the price of the handset or up-front fee.
Recycle and save
If you have a spare handset to use in the interim, you can always recycle your old iPhone and get some cash to help with the up-front cost of the new iPhones.
For example, a 16GB iPhone 6 on O2 will sell for up to £230 with our recycling partner. A 16GB iPhone 5s on O2, meanwhile, will net you up to £154.
Remember that trade-in values for older iPhone models are only going to go down as the 6s models get more common, so if you are going to sell up – sooner is better.
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