2 years ago, I got a sim-only plan for unlimited minutes, unlimited sms and 10GB data for £15/month.
1 year ago, I renewed with the same provider, who offered me the same plan for £10/month.
1 month ago, same provider offered me 12GB data for £10/month. Shopping around indicated I could get 15-20GB for below £15/month if I jumped networks, and stuck on a sim-only plan.
Instead, I got an iPhone SE 2020 128GB (RRP £449) and 40GB monthly data for £70 up front and £26/month.
Total cost of ownership over the two years is £694.
Cost of the iPhone if I purchased it from Apple is £449.
That remains the remaining spend is £10.21/month for 40GB data.
The discount cones at the cost of being locked in to the SE and your data cap for the next two years, which may not at all be a bad thing to you, but may be for someone else.
I failed to note that I wanted to buy an iPhone SE this year, which is why I looked for bundles.
The last time I bought a phone (2016) there was no bundle that was cheaper than buying the phone and a sim-only plan.
This time around, the inverse is true.
The only thing I’m locked into is my plan for 2 years. I can do whatever I like with the handset, and intend to offload it in a year assuming Face ID is seamlessly usable in public again by then.
1 year ago, I renewed with the same provider, who offered me the same plan for £10/month.
1 month ago, same provider offered me 12GB data for £10/month. Shopping around indicated I could get 15-20GB for below £15/month if I jumped networks, and stuck on a sim-only plan.
Instead, I got an iPhone SE 2020 128GB (RRP £449) and 40GB monthly data for £70 up front and £26/month.
Total cost of ownership over the two years is £694.
Cost of the iPhone if I purchased it from Apple is £449.
That remains the remaining spend is £10.21/month for 40GB data.
I definitely got something discounted.