Best iPhone 5S deals – contracts on EE, Vodafone, Three & O2

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are undoubtedly the best iPhones, but for those that don’t want to fork out quite so much cash for an Apple handset, the older iPhone 5S is still one of the best phones you can buy. Now the iPhone 5S is coming up for a year old, it no longer carries such a hefty premium and, as long as you’re willing to shop around a bit, you can get some pretty good deals. In fact, if you sign up for a two year contract you can get some pretty amazing deals from most of the big networks.

A big reason why it’s stood the test of time is down to its dual-core 1.3Ghz Apple A7 processor. It zips along with both iOS 7 and iOS 8 and the phone’s 1,136×640 screen still looks great. Then there’s the excellent 8MP camera, 4G support and sleek, polished design. If you’ve been put off by sky-high contract prices for the iPhone 5S, we’ve scoured EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone to find the best UK deals available.

iPhone 5S deals on Vodafone

The best deals on Vodafone are through Carphone Warehouse. For £26.50 a month on a two year contract with a £60 upfront fee, you get a 16GB iPhone 5s, 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of 4G data. That works out at £696 over two years, one of the cheapest contract deals around.

If you need more minutes or more data, you can get unlimited calls and texts and 4GB of data for £35.50 per month on a two year contract with a £29.99 payment upfront, bringing the total cost of ownership to £882.

iPhone 5S deals on EE

It might cost a fair bit, but the best deal on EE is the iPhone 5S 16GB for £34 per month on a two year plan with an upfront cost of £10. For that you get 2GB of double speed 4G data, unlimited calls and texts and EE Extra, the network’s name for access to double speed 4G and inclusive EU minutes and texts when roaming. This takes the total cost of ownership over two years to £826.

iPhone 5S deals on O2

The best deals on O2 aren’t found through its website. On Carphone Warehouse you can get a 16GB iPhone 5S with unlimited minutes and texts and 2GB of data with no upfront cost for £33 per month on a two year contract (which comes to £792 over two years). If you need more data then there’s another good deal for unlimited calls and texts, 5GB of data for £38 per month. Both deals are for 4G data where available, but can only be found through the Carphone Warehouse website -they aren’t available in-store or over the phone.

iPhone 5S deals on Three

On Three you can get a 16GB iPhone 5S with 2GB of data, 600 minutes and unlimited texts for £31 per month on a two year contract when you pay £29 upfront (taking the total cost to a very reasonable £744). Three is also the only network to offer truly unlimited data – and it won’t break the bank. For £38 per month you can have unlimited data and texts and 600 minutes for an upfront cost of £9 on a two year contract, costing £921 over two years.

Need unlimited everything? For £41 per month on a two year contract with no upfront cost, you can have it. That’s a 16GB iPhone 5S with unlmited, calls, texts and data for £41 per month, or £984 in total – making this one of the best iPhone 5S deals around.

iPhone 5S SIM-only deals

There’s not really any way to get a brand new SIM-only handset for less than what’s already available on the Apple Store, so you’ll have to spend £459 for the 16GB version or £499 for 32GB. You may then want to find a good SIM-only deal to go with your new iPhone 5s and at time of writing, these are the best deals we could find. If you don’t mind picking up a second-hand phone, national chain CEX is currently listing unlocked versions of the 32GB silver 5S for £430 through its website – a saving of around £70.

Three currently offers a 12 month deal that gets you 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of 4G data for just £10 a month (which you can use abroad at no extra cost, too). When you add this to the cost of a new 16GB SIM-free iPhone 5s, that brings the total cost of ownership to £579 over a year, or £699 over two years. If you want more data, Three also offer a 12-month contract which includes 250 minutes, unlimited UK texts and unlimited 3G data for £15 per month. Together with a 16GB iPhone 5s, this would cost £639 over a year or £819 over two. 

GiffGaff also do a good SIM-only deal for £12 per month, which gets you 250 minutes, unlimited UK texts and unlimited 3G data. This would bring the total cost of ownership to £603 over a year or £747 over two years. This makes SIM-only deals by far the cheapest method of owning an iPhone 5s, and you’re not tied in for two years either, meaning you can easily change your plan if a better deal comes up sooner.