The iPhone Duo is on sale today, and the phone on contract maths is brutal
Friday 23 October 2026 is the day the first folding iPhone lands in shops. EE says the iPhone Duo is available today in store, online and by phone, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models. The handset starts at £1,999 from Apple, which is the kind of number that makes a monthly plan look like a kindness.
Which? published its sums on buying a phone on contract the day before launch, and the verdict isn’t kind to the networks. By its reckoning, taking the iPhone Duo on a typical big four contract could cost over £1,000 more than buying the phone outright and pairing it with a cheap SIM. We’ve written about the iPhone Duo contract pre-orders already. This is the next step: the phone is on sale, and here’s what Which? says to watch for.
Why does a phone on contract cost so much more?
Because nearly every phone on contract today is a split contract, and the expensive half is the SIM, not the handset. Which? explains that the two parts are itemised, so you can add them up for yourself. The phone repayment is a modest premium. The airtime plan is where the real money goes.
On the handset, Which? found the big four all charge a little over £2,167 for the Duo spread over two years, against £1,999 at Apple. That’s roughly £170 extra, or about 8.5%. Not nothing, but not the headline.
On the SIM, Which? looked at the default or most basic plan offered with the Duo on each network, all with unlimited data. On EE, O2 and Vodafone that was a four year deal at £37 a month. Over four years, Which? says that works out at more than £1,000 above a cheap SIM from a smaller network, where it has recently seen unlimited data for as little as £15 a month on a rolling one month deal.
| Route to an iPhone Duo | What Which? found (checked 22 October 2026) | Catch |
|---|---|---|
| Handset on contract, EE or O2 | £2,169.36 for the phone over the term | About £170 more than buying from Apple |
| Handset on contract, Three or Vodafone | £2,167.84 for the phone over the term | About £170 more than buying from Apple |
| Default SIM on EE, O2 or Vodafone | £37 a month, unlimited data, four years | Rises to £39.50 after 31 March 2027 and £42 after 31 March 2028 |
| Three unlimited Lite plan | £26 a month on a three year device deal | Rises to £28.30 after 31 March 2027 and £30.60 after 31 March 2028 |
| Apple direct | £1,999 outright, or £66.63 a month over 30 months interest free | You still need a SIM, which is the point |
Every figure above is Which?’s, from its 22 October 2026 analysis. Prices change, and the networks run plenty of other plans, so check the plan in front of you before you sign.
Mistake one: ignoring the annual price rise on a phone on contract
A four year SIM at £37 doesn’t stay at £37. Which? points out that the big networks apply annual increases, so the EE, O2 and Vodafone plan it looked at would rise to £39.50 from April 2027 and £42 from April 2028. Add those rises and Which? puts the extra at over £1,140 against a cheap rolling SIM.
The rule since 2025 is that providers have to tell you the rise in pounds and pence up front, which we cover in our guide to mobile mid-contract price rises. So the number is there in the small print. The mistake is reading “£37” and not “£42 by year three”.
Mistake two: assuming a phone on contract is the only way to spread the cost
It isn’t. Which? notes that Apple and Samsung both offer interest free instalments, and so do various retailers. Apple’s own route for the Duo is £66.63 a month over 30 months, which Which? says saves around £170 against taking the phone through a network. You then pick any SIM you like, and you can change it whenever a better one turns up.
Vodafone’s own launch pricing shows how the split works in practice. Its press release on 16 October listed the Duo from £27.45 a month plus £100 upfront on a 1GB plan with an eligible trade in, or from £50.46 a month with its unlimited SuperMobile plan. Those are Vodafone’s figures and depend on the trade in, but they make the point: the plan you choose moves the monthly cost far more than the phone does.
Mistake three: paying for perks you won’t use
The big four bundle extras to justify the price. Which? lists EE’s entertainment extras such as TNT Sports or Apple Music on some plans, and O2 Priority’s gig tickets and streaming deals. EE’s launch release talks up its Fast Lane 5G+ access on eligible plans. These can be genuinely worth having. Which?’s advice is simply to do the maths and be honest about whether you’ll use them.
And the Do Nothing Default applies here as much as anywhere. The most expensive phone on contract is the one you finish paying off and then keep paying for, because the plan rolls on at the same price long after the handset is yours. Our SIM only deals guide explains the switch, and it takes minutes rather than a Saturday.
Before you sign for a phone on contract
- Add up the handset part and the SIM part separately over the full term.
- Find the pounds and pence price rise in the summary and add it in.
- Price the same phone on interest free instalments from the maker or a retailer.
- Price a SIM with the data you actually use, not unlimited by default.
- Decide what the perks are really worth to you, in cash.
If the SIM is the expensive half, that’s the half to fix. Compare what the same data costs on a rolling or 12 month SIM, then see whether the folding phone still makes sense on a contract or on instalments. Any saving depends on the plan you pick and how much data you use.
Frequently asked questions about buying a phone on contract
- Is a phone on contract always more expensive than buying outright?
- Which? says it’s almost always cheaper to buy the phone outright and go SIM only, mainly because of the airtime plan. The exact gap depends on the plan you’d otherwise pick and how long you keep it.
- Can I leave a phone on contract early?
- Usually only by paying off the remaining handset cost, and sometimes an airtime exit fee. Check the terms before you sign, because four year handset plans are now common.
- Does the iPhone Duo need a physical SIM?
- No. EE’s launch release says the Duo is eSIM only, so any SIM only plan you pick needs to support eSIM. Most UK networks now do.
- Where did the £1,000 figure come from?
- Which?’s 22 October 2026 comparison of a £37 a month unlimited plan over four years against a £15 a month rolling unlimited SIM it had seen from iD Mobile, including the networks’ scheduled price rises.
Sources: Which?, “Why buying a phone on contract could be a waste of money”, 22 October 2026; EE newsroom, “iPhone Duo: Now Available with EE”, 23 October 2026; Vodafone UK News Centre, “Vodafone offers iPhone Duo on Vodafone SuperMobile”, 16 October 2026. All prices are the publishers’ own and were checked October 2026.
