iPhone 8 and iPhone X: Best UK deals and where to buy new Apple mobile ahead of release date

Many networks are making it very difficult to buy the new phone

(L-R) iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X and iPhone 8 models are displayed during an Apple launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017 (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)

The iPhone 8 is here. The iPhone X soon will be. And they're ready to be swapped for your hard-earned cash.

Mobile companies as well as Apple itself are beginning to detail their deals ahead of pre-orders opening on 15 September. They'll actually go on sale a week after that.

The first thing to note is that the iPhone X won't actually be out until 3 November, and pre-orders won't open until a week before that. So if you're looking to get the premium phone, just hold tight (and perhaps start saving up instead). But here's a short piece on why you might want to opt for the iPhone 8.

The second important thing is that it is almost always a better deal to buy the iPhone from Apple itself, if you can afford it. You can either do that outright – prices begin at £699 for the iPhone 8, and go all the way up to £1,149 for the big iPhone X – or you can buy it through Apple's Upgrade programme, which offers you the chance to pay monthly and to swap to a new mobile when the next iPhone launches.

Sky Mobile is rare among the networks for actually having said how much it will charge you for an iPhone – and offering fairly decent and transparent deals while it's at it. Its deals start at £32 per month for an iPhone 8 with 64GB of storage, 500MB of data and unlimited calls and texts, though that deal is only available to people who pay for Sky TV.

Because of Sky Mobile's "Swap 24" and "Swap 12" deals – which let you get a new phone every 24 or 12 months – you can also pay £5 extra per month and you'll have the option to buy whatever strangely named mobile follows the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. That deal is the best contract deal seen by The Independent, but the nature of Sky's "swap" plans does mean that you won't get to keep the phone when the time comes to an end.

Sky has said that it will also be stocking the iPhone X.

A number of other networks are stocking the iPhone 8, though none appear to offer deals quite as good as those from Sky.

One notable exception is Virgin Mobile, which is offering the iPhone 8 from £29 per month and the 8 Plus for £33 per month, both with no upfront cost. But a notable outlier is a deal that the company is operating that upgrades your data by 10x – so you can pay £38 per month for the iPhone 8 and get a whole 40GB of data.

And it's also worth noting that if you intend to get the Apple Watch 3 with cellular, you're going to have to join EE for it to work properly. And they won't let you only buy a SIM because unlike in the US, where you can buy the Watch and then pay a little extra on top of your normal phone plan for it to be connected to the internet – instead, you have to buy the whole thing through EE, paying up to £159.99 to get the Watch and then paying a further £25 per month on top of that.