[UK] Spotted Good 4S deal, buy now or wait until after 5?

[comradejon]

I've wanted a 4S for some time, and looking two weeks ago the deals weren't that great. I had a maximum spend of £26 a month, and was going to go down the S3 route.

However, just saw on Vodafone £26 a month 300 mins, unlimited texts and 500mb (plus a miniscule £9 handset charge), and it's a good deal and wondered if I should jump. I had planned to go pay as you go, since my current contract ends next week, and wait it out until after the 5 came out (I won't be able to afford the 5, and whilst the S3 is more up to date I want iOS badly) but with a deal like this I wonder if things will get much better.

Any ideas? Do prices fall down significantly enough to make the month wait worth it?

EDIT: What I'm trying to say, which I've worded really badly, is that given the price drop already on the 4S, is it likely there will be ANOTHER price drop after the release of 5? I have to get the phone before uni kicks off again in October, so I can't wait about too long

 

[matd2100]

Get the iPhone 4S now, then upgrade to the iPhone 6 in two years when your contract is up. The iPhone 5 contracts will not get "reasonable" in price until this time next year when the 5S will be released. Don't go the pay-as-you-go route since that is by far the most expensive option, even with a cheap SIM-only contract stuffed into the phone.

 

[comradejon]

Get the iPhone 4S now, then upgrade to the iPhone 6 in two years when your contract is up. The iPhone 5 contracts will not get "reasonable" in price until this time next year when the 5S will be released. Don't go the pay-as-you-go route since that is by far the most expensive option, even with a cheap SIM-only contract stuffed into the phone.

217 views and only one reply, I'm rather surprised!

Cheers for the advice. Does this mean, though, that the 4S is unlikely to go cheaper than the deal I quote, that's my point? With the 5 drag the price down anymore at all?

 

[LethalUK]

Apple will reduce the price of the 4S when the new iPhone comes out, but it's possible that the carriers have already factored this into pricing, especially if the contracts just dropped.

It's also likely that the 4S in anything bigger than 16GB will be discontinued after the new release.

If you're happy with that contract, I'd go for it. Use cashback sites to get some money back as well if that's available.

 

[comradejon]

Apple will reduce the price of the 4S when the new iPhone comes out, but it's possible that the carriers have already factored this into pricing, especially if the contracts just dropped.

It's also likely that the 4S in anything bigger than 16GB will be discontinued after the new release.

If you're happy with that contract, I'd go for it. Use cashback sites to get some money back as well if that's available.

Cheers for the advice. It seems only one site is offering (http://mobiledeals.cnet.co.uk/phones/apple/iphone-4s-16gb/ top one) , I might sit and wait around until the latter half of August anyway to see if the other mobile deal sites pop up with the cashback, but I think I will buy before the 5 comes out anyway.

 

[SimonDK]

My friend has Vodaphone, and we travel around the country quite a lot, they have very bad service, and 3G is a running joke

I saw a very good offer on Orange, if it helps,I am on O2 and can't fault the service, always have signal and 3G 85-90% of the time.

 

[comradejon]

My friend has Vodaphone, and we travel around the country quite a lot, they have very bad service, and 3G is a running joke

I saw a very good offer on Orange, if it helps,I am on O2 and can't fault the service, always have signal and 3G 85-90% of the time.

In my college at uni 3 has no signal whatsoever; one of my richer friends who can afford to get a sim only contract on top of his 3 contract since 3 were no help moved to Vodafone and he's had no problems with signal. I'm gonna get it done under my Dad's name since he's been with Vodafone the company since the 90s, show them the online offer and see if they can beat it, so I think I'll be sticking with Vodafone.

Unless you saw a particularly awesome Orange deal? I've scoured for a while and £26 a month was pretty much impossible until the Vodafone deal I saw, I don't want to go a penny over it

 

[matd2100]

Probably the best carriers to go with these days are T-Mobile or Orange, if only because they now share their reception signal so you can pretty much get decent signal nearly everywhere within reasonable proximity of an urbanised area.

The only time the 4S is going to get even cheaper contract deals once the iPhone 5 is released is around the time of when the iPhone 5S gets released, and even then it won't be a massive price drop i.e. they'll probably remove the upfront fee to pay for the actual phone itself and maybe drop the monthly price by a couple of quid.