It’s no secret to consumers that mobile phones have become a huge expense, especially as some handsets from mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple or Samsung can cost upwards of £1000.
It’s advisable to try to save a considerable amount outside of your living costs and bills, therefore a sizeable payment for a new flagship device might not be a financially prudent choice. All the same, many of us still want a mobile phone that has modern features such as a decent battery life, plenty of storage space and a good camera setup as basic requirements, without needing to spend an unnecessarily large sum of money on it. The best way to save money on a new phone is to make sensible choices, and there are several ways of doing this.
Wait a Few Months
While it can be very tempting to buy a mobile phone as soon as it gets released (such as Apple’s latest iPhone in September), if you want to save money it’s better to wait at least a few months before splashing out. In fact, it’s wiser that you don’t even get the latest model in the few months after the big launch at all. This is because in the months that come after the release of a new phone model, the prices will begin to decrease as supply catches up with demand. If you have an iPhone, you can follow the iPhone price trends to get a rough idea of their depreciation.
Buy a Refurbished Phone
If you decide that buying the latest model on the market isn’t a necessary expense, then getting a refurbished phone instead would be a great choice, as this could save you up to 50% off the original cost of the device, which is often cheaper than buying an older model. A refurbished phone is a handset which has been used previously, and then is sold to a recycling company who takes the phone through a refurbishment process and fixes anything that is broken and gives it a cosmetic makeover to minimise any signs of wear and tear. Once this device has been reset to factory settings and been refurbished, it’ll resemble a new phone for almost half the price of the model when it was first released.
Sell or Trade in Your Old Phone
When you have decided that you want to buy a new phone, selling your old one is the next step. The monetary advantage of selling your old phone is self-explanatory, namely that you’ll receive a payment which you can then put towards a new phone (from any manufacturer), or into your personal savings. Your other option is to trade it in for a newer device from the manufacturer of your mobile phone. As well as the monetary advantage, it’s also important to note that selling your phone has an environmental benefit. When you sell your device to a recycling company, this ensures that it’ll stay in circulation, as it’ll be made suitable for a new user and will then be sold on to a new person.
Get a Cheaper Phone Contract
As well as the cost of the handset itself, you’ll want to consider ways that you can pay less for a phone contract overall. A good way of doing this is by ‘unbundling’ it, which means piecing together the contract yourself as opposed to choosing an ‘all-in’ monthly contract for your new phone. When you ‘unbundle’ the cost of the handset and the data charges for calls and texts, you’re likely to get a better deal. ‘Unbundling’ will also give you an unlocked handset, meaning that you can take advantage of SIM-only contract deals, as well as options for the best network deals.