That’s right, I bought myself a new iphone. I’ve had my current iphone for the last six years, which I think is actually pretty good going. I don’t like to replace things before I really have to, not only to reduce clutter but also to save money. My current iphone 6 no longer updates, meaning that eventually at some unknown future date many of my apps may stop working as they will no longer be supported and require the latest IOS in order to run. Further, the battery is at a point where it lasts about half a day. I’ve aleady had it replaced once when Apple offered to replaced batteries on certain models at a significantly reduced rate. However, as my phone no longer supports updates, I felt as though another battery replacement (whilst cheaper than a new phone) would have been throwing good money after bad and I have no doubt that in another 12 months I would have been in the same new phone dilemma.
I researched both iphones and Androids (even though I’ve been an iphone user since the first iphone was released in Australia). But I wanted to see what other options might be out there, even though I was used to using an Apple product. I looked at buying a second hand iphone through a friend of my boyfriend’s which was a good option at $400 for a iphone X. I also looked at a OnePlus Android on Amazon Prime Day, but this wasn’t that much cheaper than the iphone SE (and the SE meant I didn’t have to learn how to use a new phone).
Since the iphone 12 has been released, the iphone SE (2020 model 64GB) has been reduced from $749 to $679, which is a significant reduction since I started researching new phones. Still problematic for me since I decided I really didn’t want to spend more than $500 on a new phone. I recently though had a poor (and unrelated) experience with a particular retailer and as compensaton they gifted me a $50 store voucher. They also sell iphones. This would bring the phone I was interested in down to $699 – still well over my estimated budget. My boyfriend to the resuce – who was able to acquire $600 worth of gift cards to the same store at an 8% discount (plus a small credit card fee) through one of his insurance policies which meant I paid $558 for $600 worth of gift cards, saving me a futher $42 off the phone.
A brand new iphone SE 2020 for $587 with an extra $92 off the current retail price was too good to be true, and even though it was over the $500 budget I set, it was by far the best deal and the best value I could find, espcially because there’s no way I can justify $1200 on the new iphone 12. The problem with phones is that they date too quickly and 24 month plans just aren’t what they used to be in terms of value and essentially getting the phone itself for free. The SE is still a 2020 model, making it (in my eyes) good value compared to the 12. The even better news?? The SE is about the same size as my current iphone 6 which means my current phone case fits the new phone and I don’t have to spend money on a new one!!! Very environmentaly friendly and an excellent financial saving in my opinion!
I find that other forms of technology are getting cheaper, yet mobile phones are getting more expensive – yet we can’t seem to live easily today without one.
How do you keep mobile phone costs down?
This is Minimalism 