Information on price plans for the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus started to trickle through on Friday morning, although it seemed that some trigger-happy Apple fans may have been causing problems for operator web sites--at least in the UK.
Vodafone UK put out an early release announcing that pre-orders were "live" and revealing that the iPhone 6 would be available for free on 4G Red XL and Red XXL plans on a 24-month contract. Those plans offer 10 GB and 20 GB data and are priced at £53.50 (€67/$87) and £58.50 respectively. The iPhone 6 Plus will be available from an upfront cost of £19 on 4G Red XL and Red XXL plans costing £58.50 and £63.50 a month respectively.
As a further incentive to customers, Vodafone UK is also offering six-months' free usage of Netflix, on top of either a Spotify Premium or Sky Sports Mobile TV.
Other UK operators were slower off the mark, with Three UK saying on its web site that pre-orders would start from the afternoon of Sept.12. On Friday morning, the online shops of EE and O2 UK were actually down at the time of writing, indicating either strong demand or rather unfortunate technical hiccups.
Over in France, SFR is offering the iPhone 6 without a contract from between €799.99 and €999.99, or at a reduced price on a contract. For example, the 16 GB version is available for an upfront fee of €179.99 after a €200 discount, on a contract costing €144.99 a month and including 16 GB of data. Orange France is offering the 16 GB iPhone 6 on a contract for €199.90 with a €100 discount.
Free Mobile also joined in the pre-order rush with contract-free prices from €779 a month, and the option to spread the payments for no extra fee. Bouygues Telecom was a little late to the pre-order party, with no pricings available on Friday morning.
Germany's O2 and Vodafone also offered the new phones on contract, although E-Plus--which sells mobile services under the Base brand--tends to follow much later with new iPhone launches. Deutsche Telekom probably had the two phones available for pre-order, but also seemed to suffer technical glitches on its web site.
In summary, the iPhone 6 does not come cheap but there are plenty of contract and no-contract options if you are prepared to spend the money. Or you could buy an iPhone 5s at a much-reduced price!
For more:
- see this Vodafone UK release
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