Best iPhone deals in December 2024: the best sim-free and contract iPhone offers

Choosing the best iPhone for you entirely depends on your needs, if you don't properly consider the factors involved in making the choice, you can very quickly end up wasting large sums of money on specs you simply don't need. When buying an iPhone, consider some of the following questions: How much do I want to spend? What size phone do I prefer? How much am I using my phone? What am I using my phone for? Am I fussed about having the latest features? Once you have answers to some of these questions, it will become much easier to determine the best phone for you.

When you look to buy a new phone, one of the best ways to make big savings can be via trading in or selling your old device. For example, currently, if you trade in an eligible iPhone with Apple, you can save up to £715 on an iPhone 15, which would leave you with only £85 to pay to own your new phone entirely.

These savings don't just come when you trade in to buy a phone outright, some of the UK's biggest network providers also have great offers to help you save via trade-in on a new iPhone. Vodafone is currently offering up to £430 off your iPhone 15 plan with an eligible trade-in which, if you were to create a 24-month plan, would save you over £17.90 per month on your new device.

The iPhone 15 range was released only recently but that doesn't mean the rumour mill isn't already turning with news of its successor. iPhone 16 rumours are starting to emerge, and with the launch expected to be next year, there's not too long to wait before a new iPhone could arrive.

Across the lifespan of a phone, there will be three key points where deals will happen which are great times to look for a new offer for your phone, these times are:

- New releases: Like all other phones, when a new iPhone comes out, we frequently see the other devices in Apple's arsenal come down in price.

- Black Friday: The yearly mega sale, Black Friday can be the perfect time to get iPhone deals. Every year we see phones come crashing down in price and we'll be shouting out the best offers to grab when the time comes back around.

- Amazon Prime Day: Amazon's impressive sale for Prime Subscribers, we often see some of the best cheap iPhone deals appear during this two-day sale, as long as you don't mind going SIM-free. Plus, there is now also Amazon's Big Deal Days event, which essentially acts as Prime Day 2, and often offers equally significant discounts.

Despite these days existing, we are always searching for the best iPhone deals across SIM-free and contract iPhone offers and update our deals pages regularly with the very best currently live, so make sure to keep checking back to make sure you don't miss the latest offers on iPhones.

Buying an iPhone SIM-free is one of the best ways to save when looking for an iPhone deal. By choosing to by the phone outright, then partner your new iPhone with a SIM-only deal, you are not only reducing the period you are tied into a contract for, but you are also significantly reducing your costs.

iPhone deals, like all phone deals, will end up costing you significantly more over time when you choose to buy via a mobile network. The commitment of an iPhone contract, plus yearly price rises, and any general interest added to the base price for choosing a contract, all mean you can pay greatly inflated costs by choosing an iPhone contract deal, even if they are more convenient month-to-month.

When choosing your iPhone deal, consider looking for any SIM-free iPhone deals available, as there's normally a few. Once you've found the right iPhone for you, you can choose to either get a SIM-only deal from one of the big four UK providers, those being EE, O2, Vodafone, and Three, or you can choose to use an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), who use the infrastructure of one of the big four networks, to provide an equally powerful level of mobile service, but fewer benefits, to help bring the monthly price down.