The only test that matters
Every handset offer reduces to one sum: upfront cost + (monthly × months). Set that total against the benchmark — the same phone bought outright plus the cheapest good SIM. Beat the benchmark and the deal earns credit; lose to it and the deal is presentation.
- Write down the true total: upfront plus every month of the term.
- Price the handset outright (maker's store or major retailer).
- Add your best SIM-only price over the same months.
- Compare. The smaller number wins — no exceptions for 'free' gifts.
The upfront see-saw
Retailers slide cost between the deposit and the monthly. A tiny upfront usually means a fatter monthly, and vice versa — which is why two adverts for the same phone can both shout 'cheapest'. Only totals compare honestly; headlines never do.
Trade-in, done properly
Trade-in quotes swing with condition, storage and season. The rule: always collect a second quote — the maker's own programme and an independent recycler — before accepting a retailer's number at the till. Erase and unlink the old phone (find-my off, accounts out) before posting it.
Upgrade offers & yearly schemes
An upgrade restarts your clock, and 'yearly upgrade' schemes are a rolling fee for permanent newness — a subscription, not a saving. Total each proposal across years, exactly as in Section 1, before nodding. And diarise your contract end date: the after-term months, where the bill keeps charging for a paid-off phone, are the most expensive in mobile.