iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus deals in the UK: Where to get the special edition PRODUCT(RED) models

The iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus went on sale in September, so a good few months have passed since their release. That means we are starting to see healthy price drops on brilliant iPhone 8 and 8 Plus tariffs with some of the best network providers. We’re still early on in the refresh cycle, too, so you won’t have to worry about a new model coming out anytime soon. 

More recently, Apple released the two phones in red, as part of its (PRODUCT)RED campaign. Preorders for the charity handsets opened on 10 April and shipping was scheduled for the 13 April. You can buy the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition in 64GB and 256GB models directly from Apple for £699. Alternatively, you can get hold of the handset from a UK operator and we’ve listed the best deals below. 

READ NEXT: iPhone 8 review, iPhone 8 Plus review and iPhone X review

Here’s everything you need to know about the new iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and how to buy. We’ve collated our pick of the best iPhone 8 and 8 plus deals below, so read on for more details. 

[gallery:2]

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus deals

Vodafone 

At Vodafone for £49 a month, with a £64 upfront cost, you’ll get a massive 32GB of data as well as unlimited minutes and texts. You’ll be getting 32GB for the price of 8GB which is a fantastic offer. Overall, it’s £1,204 over 24 months. 

For the iPhone 8 Plus, you’ll get the same tariff above but for £49 a month and £62 upfront. That’s £1,244 overall – only £40 more than the standard iPhone 8.  

You can get an iPhone 8 (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition with 16GB of data for the price of 4GB on Vodafone’s Red Extra 16GB plan, which comes with unlimited texts and minutes for £55 per month, with a £19 upfront cost. The iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition will be available on the same plan for £63 per month with an upfront cost of £29.  

Alternatively, you can get the iPhone 8 (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition with 32GB of data for the price of 8GB on a Red Entertainment 32GB plan. This includes unlimited texts, minutes and a choice of Sky Sports Mobile TV, Spotify Premium or a NOW TV Entertainment Pass for £61 per month, with a £19 upfront cost. The iPhone 8 Plus(PRODUCT)RED Special Edition is available on the same plan for £69 per month (£29 upfront cost).

Carphone Warehouse

Carphone Warehouse is offering a 64GB iPhone 8 for £42 a month, with £99.99 upfront cost, on O2. The 24-month tariff will give you 12GB of data – for the price of 3GB – unlimited texts and minutes for £1,108 overall.

If you’re after an iPhone 8 Plus instead, Carphone Warehouse is recommending another gem from O2. For only £200 more than the iPhone 8 tariff, you’ll get a 64GB iPhone 8 Plus with 20GB of data, unlimited texts and minutes for £1,303 over 24-months. That breaks down to £51 a month and £79.99 upfront.

Mobiles.co.uk

Mobiles.co.uk recommends getting the iPhone 8 64GB model on O2 for £35 a month with an upfront cost of £110. That works out at £950 overall, for 12GB of data, unlimited texts and minutes. A pretty decent deal considering the handset comes in at £679. 

For the iPhone 8 Plus, Mobiles.co.uk offer a £51 a month deal with a £49.99 upfront cost on O2. For £1,274 overall, you’ll get 20GB, unlimited minutes and texts.

Virgin Mobile

At Virgin Mobile, the 64GB iPhone 8 starts at £29 a month with no upfront cost, over a 36-month contract. You’ll get 1.2GB data, unlimited texts and 300 minutes – totalling at £1,044.

While the iPhone 8 Plus tariffs start at £33 a month for the 64GB model. There’s no upfront cost and it comes with 1.2GB, unlimited texts and 300 minutes. Overall, you’ll pay £1,118 over 36 months.

Virgin Mobile is also promoting deals for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. You can save up to £72. Decent.

O2

For a 64GB iPhone 8, O2 is offering a 30GB tariff with unlimited texts and minutes for £56 per month with an upfront cost of £29.99 – costing £1,374 over the 24 months.

For a 64GB iPhone 8 Plus, O2 recommends its £59-a-month deal, which has an upfront cost of £29.99. For £1,446, you’ll get 20GB, unlimited texts and minutes.

READ NEXT: What’s new in iOS 11?

If you choose to buy the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus on an O2 Refresh Tariff, you’ll pay for your Airtime and iPhone separately. This means you can pay off the cost of your iPhone in full at any time if you want to upgrade. Additionally, if you’re on the Yearly Upgrade Programme, after 12 months, you can trade in your phone using O2 Recycle and O2 will waive the remainder of the cost of the phone.

O2 is also stocking the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT)RED handsets. The iPhone 8 is available for £39.99 upfront and will cost you £62 a month with 25GB data, unlimited minutes and texts. The iPhone 8 Plus is available for £70 a month, with an upfront cost of £39.99.

SkyMobile

Prices for the iPhone 8 on Sky Mobile start at £26 a month (with no upfront cost). You then add data, text and minute packages onto the montly fee. The 64GB iPhone 8 Plus is available for £30 a month with no upfront fee. Both are on Sky’s Swap24 scheme.  

Both the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition are available from Sky Mobile on either a Swap12 or Swap24 plan. Prices start from £26 a month on Swap24, with 500MB of data and free Unlimited calls and texts. Elsewhere, customers can save £5 a month with any phone, including the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition, when they join or recontract their Sky TV.

More detailed prices for the two (PRODUCT)RED handsets are below:

iPhone 8 (PRODUCT)RED	Swap24	Swap12
Upfront costs	£0	£99
Monthly cost for your phone, 500MB data and free Unlimited Calls and Text When you join or recontract your Sky TV	£26	£34
Monthly cost for your phone, 500MB data and free Unlimited Calls and Text If you choose not to recontract your Sky TV	£29	£37
Swap after	24 months	12 months
Delivery charges	Free	Free

iPhone 8 Plus (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition	Swap24	Swap12
Upfront costs	£0	£99
Monthly cost for your phone, 500MB data and free Unlimited Calls and Text When you join or recontract your Sky TV	£30	£41
Monthly cost for your phone, 500MB data and free Unlimited Calls and Text If you choose not to recontract your Sky TV	£33	£44
Swap after	24 months	12 months
Delivery charges	Free	Free

Sky Mobile launched Swap to make it easier for people to upgrade to a new phone every 12 or 24 months. On Swap12, customers can get a new model each year, without having to switch contracts while Swap24 works over two years, and is slightly cheaper.  

Sky Mobile additionally comes with Sky Mobile’s Mix, Roll, Sync and Save. Roll lets you roll over unused data each month, Mix lets customers change their plan whenever they like and Sky Mobile’s Save gives Sky TV customers free unlimited calls and texts. 

Three

Customers can order the 64GB version of the special edition (PRODUCT)RED iPhone from Three as of 13 April, both online and in-store. The original iPhone 8 is available for £58 per month, with an upfront cost £79. That contract lasts two years and comes with unlimited minutes and texts and a 30GB hotspot. 

GiffGaff

You can get a 24-month tariff for a 64GB iPhone 8 on GiffGaff for £53.46 a month while the 256GB model costs £60.90 a month – both have an upfront cost of £45. That comes to a total of £1,328 and £1,506 respectively. Each month you can then add a “goodybag” of texts, minutes and data. Our pick would be the 4GB package for £12 a month – it comes with unlimited texts and 750 minutes.

If you want to upgrade to the 64GB iPhone 8 Plus, you’ll be paying £40 upfront and £53.42 monthly – that comes to £1,322 over 24 months. 

iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus: Specifications

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are almost exactly the same phone – it all comes down to whether you prefer an easily pocketable 4.7in screen, or want the extra real estate that a 5.5in display provides.

Whichever you pick, you’re looking at the same setup: an Apple A11 Bionic chip, 64 or 256GB of storage, and a 12MP rear-facing camera. That’s where there’s a change between the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus – the latter has a dual camera setup, pairing a f/1.8 lens with a f/2.8 telephoto lens. It additionally adds to its Portrait mode with Portrait Lighting, a feature designed to mimic studio lighting, for example, to make your photos look even more professional.

If you love photography, the Plus is worth paying a bit more for.

[gallery:5]

Elsewhere, Apple was boasting about substantial gains from the six-core processor in the company keynote speech – estimating that two of the cores offer a 25% speed boost, while the remaining four give a 70% hike. The new phones also contain the first Apple-designed GPU which should give a 30% boost on the old model.

There’s still no 3.5mm headphone jack, but for the first time, the iPhone will support Qi wireless charging. This is part of the reason why the rear of the device has been made of glass; to accommodate the wireless charging panel.

iPhone 8 specifications

iPhone 8 Plus specifications

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: Release date

If all this sounds appealing, then you probably want to know when you can get your hands on one. It’s slightly different for each model.

You can preorder the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus from 15 September, and it’ll be available from 22 September. The iPhone X, on the other hand, comes later, with preorders opening on 27 October and a shipping date of 3 November.

iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus: Price

Apple seems to have taken a somewhat frustrating $1 = £1 approach, which means the iPhone 8 starts at $699 in the US, and £699 over here. That puts it ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG G6, Sony Xperia XZ Premium and HTC U11.

If you want 256GB of storage instead of 64GB (you can’t add in a microSD card, remember), you’re looking at a price of £849 – just £20 shy of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.[gallery:19]

On the subject of phablets, here’s how the iPhone 8 Plus fares: the price begins at £799 for the 64GB version, and sharply rises to £949 for 256GB – putting it well ahead of the Note 8, and pretty much everything else out there.

Preorder your iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus with Mobiles.co.uk

Everything else out there, that is, until 3 November when the iPhone X emerges to knock it off its pricey perch. iPhone’s super flagship nearly breaks four figures, going for £999 in the UK. Of course, if you want 256GB, it achieves this dubious goal, coming in at £1,149. That also means the iPhone X is more expensive than Apple’s cheapest MacBooks – the 13in MacBook Air starts at £949.