A week ahead of the
launch, UK operators have started to open pre-orders for the iPhone 5. So what can you expect to pay upfront for Apples latest smartphone on, say, Vodafone?
Depending on your data plan, anywhere between £409 and nothing.
The cheapest monthly tariff available on Vodafone is £25, leaving a cost of £249 for the 16GB version of the iPhone, £349 for 32GB, or £409 for 64GB. If you fancy paying £47 a month, you can get an iPhone 16GB without payingupfront, or for £89 (32GB) or £169 (64GB) if you fancy something a bit chunkier.
Thats roughly equivalent to the other UK operators, all of whom are offering the phone on 24 month contracts. Thats the only real difference, in fact – currently, only Vodafone is offering the iPhone 5 on a 12 month contract. 
One interesting case is that of EE, which will be the only operator to offer the iPhone on 4G. EE wont have actually opened its door by the time the iPhone 5 launches, so the only way to get a 4G iPhone seems to be signing up to a contract with Orange or T-Mobile and then upgrading when EE launches.
Join us at Mobile Marketing Live, our new two-day conference, exhibition and networking event being held at Londons Business Design Centre on 1-2 October
