Anyone successfully navigated the iPhone upgrade trap and paying less per month on phone?

[unconditional83]

Caveat - I know not everyone is fortunate enough to have this first world problem. My iPhone X contract with 3 comes to an end soon and I want to get out of the cycle of upgrading and spending a fortune each month, which I've done since about 2005!

Yes I know I could buy a Nokia 3210, but aside from that option, how do people keep their iPhone bill down?

I guess I can purchase the handset and do SIM only? But then I don't know if that's worth it as the iPhone handsets seem to mysteriously "die" or slow down once they are a couple of years old, or they make the software obsolete.

I know it's all a capitalist trap but I do kind of still want an iPhone for work and life, so can I have my cake and eat it?

I'd love to hear some tips about how others manage it. Just want to keep monthly outgoings a bit lower really.

iPhones should last for at least three or four years, ideally 5. Presumably your X is still fine?

Shift to a cheap as chips SIM only. When and if your X slows down or breaks then look for a new one. It's honestly that simple.

My iPhone contract with 3 ran out 2 years ago and since then I have kept the phone and just get a sim only contract. I only pay £7 a month now. Phone works just as well.

You will own the phone, you don’t need to buy a new one. Then buy a SIM for about £7 a month (Sky do them with quite a lot of data too)

i phone x was released seven years ago, how long have you had it?

I had an iPhone 6 that died a month after the contract ended when I gave it to my husband - was really annoyed

I also upgrade every 2 years

Keep the old phone, find a SIM only deal that suits you. Purchase a new phone outright when your old one is no longer functioning adequately for you. If money is tight when this happens then a cheaper android model is the way to go.

I’ve paid off my iPhone 11 3 years ago and have been on a sim deal. 9 quid a month. I refuse to buy a new phone until this one has died/been lost/stolen.

Sim only deal and when you do need a new handset, purchase an older model online. I pay £7 per month but I have an older model. Suits me fine.

I have a sim only deal and replace the battery when needed by taking it into an Apple Store. It is still going strong after 4 years

I’ve had my iPhone for about 5 years now. Still works fine. Software isn’t obsolete. You don’t have to buy a new phone when your contract ends. I pay £10 a month on a sim only deal. I will buy a new phone when this one breaks

If the phone still works get a Giffgaff SIM card. If the phone is on its way out buy an android phone (Samsung or pixel are the top rated) and buy a Giffgaff SIM.

I just have an old iPhone, and a contract that doesn't include the phone as I own it. It's maybe not as speedy as a new phone but works just fine

I only replaced my XR in September it still works fine just a rubbish battery. You can get 4-5 years out of an iPhone. Just use giffgaff or similar.

iPhones sadly do not last for five years…

OP, cancel the contract, trade in your current phone with MusicMagpie or similar, use that as a deposit on a newer iPhone (pay monthly finance if possible), get a cheap SIM, sorted!

My iPhone 11 is still going after 4.5 years. The battery is crap but everybody else is great. I plan to just get the battery replaced at an Apple Store for now.

Am on a monthly contract with EE 150g, £17 a month. I can share the data with my young ds easily so he just has a cheap 2gb contract. Perfect.

Yea they do just checked I purchased my iPhone XR direct from Apple in October 2018 dh bought me an iPhone 15 for Xmas this year. That's five year and two months and the phone still works other than a slow battery.

Do you mean upgrade to the latest iPhone model op? If so then I'm not aware of a way to do it and pay less. If you mean an iPhone that's a newer model than what you have at the moment, I did a lot of shopping around recently when my contract ended, and decided to get a cheap sim + refurbished phone bought separately. I'm not bothered about having the latest iPhone, so just got a refurbished iPhone 11 with a year's warranty for any issues. I did the same for dd a year or so ago and it's been fine. I just resented paying all that money to O2 for years in the end

Thanks all. Not bothered about having the most up-to-date phone but do want iPhone (not Android) as it syncs with my Mac, my watch and iPad! All useful for work.

@Ivyy how much was your refurbished one compared to new can I ask?

I upgraded my iPhone to a Samsung years ago. Never looked back. I think it was an iPhone 4S.

Sim only deal once I bought the handset (which was about £400), so less than £10 per month for unlimited everything.

I must have saved thousands compared to Apple, and I have a phone where the manufacturer didn't purposely use the battery up to make me think it was broken and upgrade it like Apple did.

My iPhone X died after 4 years and annoyingly wasn’t repairable. I bought a 14 pro for about £850 directly from Apple (you can pay them off over several months of you don’t want to do it outright) then changed to a sim only contract. Better than paying bastard Vodafone £65 a month for a contract with phone I figured.

I bought my refurbished iPhone X 3 yrs ago,it cost £125.I use a sim only deal with 3 and it costs £10 per month with 10gig of data more than enough for my needs.I have only ever bought refurbished iPhones and never had a problem with the battery life.

I was told by a private phone repair company never to update iphones as this is linked to reducing battery life.

I do wonder if that's a myth but it seems to work for me, every other renewal I go SIM only.

buy handset. sim only
do the sums, even if putting the outlay on a credit card it is likely to be cheaper over the 4 year or so life of a phone.

I got the X when it came out and then got then 14Pro when that came out. For the X i had saved up and paid cash, for the 14Pro i got that on finance through Apple as 0% APR paid off over 2 years.
I'm on a rolling sim so not tied in, pay £9 a month, my husband is on SMARTY paying i think £6 a month.

Look into providers that allow you to pay off the contract early, like o2. I paid off the three year contract with my iPhone 12 six early last year because I was getting irritated keeping track of another direct debit. O2 don’t charge interest (maybe all the networks don’t).

Also it’s worth getting a new iPhone every so often because as time goes on, updates won’t support older models (like the current iOS and your X model) and updates are necessary to fix bugs and improve security, as well the capacity for new features.