Buying a brand new smartphone can be an expensive process and if you want the latest and greatest device you can sometimes be spending the best part of £1,000 for the privilege.
But there are a number of ways you can save without having to go for a budget phone.
Most brand new devices worth having are on the pricey end of the scale, but these tips will help you get the best phone possible without draining your entire bank account in one go.
Plus, you can then use the leftover money to buy yourself a brand new phone case.
Find the right phone for you
The term “flagship phone” doesn’t inherently mean it has to be expensive. It’s all about finding the right phone for you, and some manufacturers now offer up cheaper alternatives to the big names.
Phone companies such as OnePlus, Huawei and Oppo all offer devices with flagship specs that can compete with the likes of the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S line, but don’t break the bank.
Take a look at the OnePlus 3, Huawei P9 and Oppo F1 before you go on to buy some of the more well known phones as going for something a little different is an excellent money-saver.
Be certain of storage
If your heart is set on an iPhone 7, a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, an HTC 10 or any other expensive flagship phone, then work out how much storage you need.
In a world full of free cloud storage and streaming, do you really need the 256GB iPhone 7?
It costs a whole lot more than buying the 32GB or 128GB version and if you don’t think you need the space, don’t get it.
Instead be sure to stream your music collection rather than download it all, cull apps you don’t really use and make sure your fave photos are tucked away in that great space-saver in the sky – the cloud.
Keep looking around
There’s no better tip than shopping around. Just because you’ve been with your network for 10 years, doesn’t mean you need to stick with them for another 10.
Instead look around all the networks and check there are no better deals. Don’t just go to the high-street, know there are websites offering similar and sometimes even better deals for some of the best phones.
If you can, buy it SIM Free
When buying a cheap phone, the aim is to hammer down its lifetime costs and with most contracts that’ll take two years.
A better way is usually to buy your phone outright and then take on a SIM-Free contract to keep the cost as low as possible.
Sometimes you can’t do it as it’s easier to make a monthly £35 payment than shell out £700 on day one, but SIM-Free normally works out more cheaply in the long run.
Buy refurbished
We can’t recommend buying a refurbished smartphone enough.
Refurbished phones are products that have been returned for some reason or another. It might have been a component failure or software issue or just that the original purchaser changed their mind without ever using it. Whatever the backstory, the phone can’t be sold as new again, which is where refurbishers come in.
Each phone is inspected, tested, repaired if needed, unlocked and then restored to its factory settings before being resold. Look for manufacturer or retailer refurbished deals if you want the reassurance that the phone has been restored by technicians approved by the device’s original makers.
But the best bit is your refurb phone will be cut price when it lands in your lap.
A brand new iPhone 6S would cost you £499 from Apple but on eBay you can get it from only £359.99 at the time of writing, while a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge would be in the £399.99 neck of the woods instead of over £500 brand new. Naturally, prices change but this gives you an idea of the substantial sums you can save.
Add on a Sim-Free deal from the most competitive network, cut back on storage and get a phone from an up and coming brand and you truly will be getting the most bang for your buck.
