Where to buy the cheapest mobile phones.
I'll separate this page into two parts for you - The first part will be solely for feature phones, aka dumb phones, for those who just want a simple, robust, cheap mobile phone with a great battery life and as little traceable technology as possible.
The second part will feature the cheapest smartphones available, for those who want a spare, backup or cheap standalone mobile phone.
This page is reviewed regularly, but for the best, cheapest and most up to date mobile phone deals, please follow me on Twitter, where I post mobile phone deals regularly, when I find them.
The second part will feature the cheapest smartphones available, for those who want a spare, backup or cheap standalone mobile phone.
This page is reviewed regularly, but for the best, cheapest and most up to date mobile phone deals, please follow me on Twitter, where I post mobile phone deals regularly, when I find them.
PART 1: FEATURE PHONES.
The first place that you should look is perhaps not online, but in your local supermarket if you want a basic mobile phone.
Head to the technology section of any of the larger supermarkets and you will find a range of phones from the cheapest, simplest mobile phones around through to the mid range smartphones.
Expect to pay anything from £10-£40 for a very basic mobile phone. Often, you may also have to buy a minimum top up credit of £10 on top of this price.
Where to buy cheap, basic, mobile phones - Supermarket tips:
Asda can have a decent selection of mobile phones, with the Samsung E1200 for £10 being a typical example of what you can expect. Asda also sell a range of mobile phones on different networks, including Asda Mobile, Vodafone and EE.
Sainsbury's is your next best bet for picking up a cheap feature phone. In Sainsbury's, you will find a much better range of mobile phones, plus you can usually find out what they are likely to have in-store by looking at their website. Mobiles from Sainsbury's are available SIM free (i.e. not locked to any network) as well as PAYG mobiles which may need the usual £10 top up when purchasing the phone.
Sainsbury's also stock mobiles from different networks, such as Mobile by Sainsbury's, Vodafone, Virgin, EE, etc.
Tesco also have their own Virtual Mobile Network, just like Asda Mobile and Mobile by Sainsbury's, but Tesco's in-store phone shops place their own network first and foremost. Choice and prices are similar to those from Sainsbury's.
Tesco Direct (the online retailer) sells a wide range of simple mobile phones. They even have their very own feature phone section of the website; see HERE.
You can find mobile phones in the other supermarkets, but choice is limited.
On the High Street.
Shops that sell feature phones have become uncommon as the phones themselves. Carphone Warehouse is about the only one left which sells a variety of mobiles on different networks.
Take a look at the Carphone Warehouse website, and you will see just how few of these phones they stock in comparison to the supermarket chains. This is a sign of the times, as most people are using/wanting smartphones these days.
However, Carphone Warehouse is still worth a look, just don't get roped in to getting a contract by their sales advisers!
The main networks all have a high street presence, and don't forget that O2, EE, Vodafone and Three all sell PAYG mobile phones as well as their contract phones and SIMs.
O2 usually have the best selection of cheap PAYG mobile phones, followed by EE.
Where to buy cheap, basic, feature phones online.
Looking for a cheap, basic mobile phone, but don't mind registering your personal details (name, address, bank details) in to get hold of one? Online is a great place to get a feature phone.
eBay sell plenty of feature phones, but expect to pay higher than average prices for them - unless you don't mind refurbished/second hand.
All of the retailers that I've mentioned above sell cheap feature phones, and buying online is quick and easy. Delivery charges are usually free or around £5, and delivery is quite often next day. A signature is almost always required when taking delivery of a mobile phone.
Expansys is a very good resource. This company sells a very wide range of mobile phones, from the very basic to the latest flagship smartphones. Their prices for cheap mobiles range from £26-£100 for basic mobile phones and smartphones.
Stock levels vary, and prices are slightly higher than other retailers (the Microsoft Lumia 435 costs around £67, when it's available for around £50 elsewhere), but you can often find a bargain at Expansys: Their buying power means that they obtain shipments of older phones for good prices, so you could find exactly what you are looking for at Expansys.
Asda sell the Samsung E1200 for £10 on Vodafone, £15 gets you the Nokia 108. Alcatel mobile phones are available from around £9 on Asda Mobile and Virgin.
Mobile by Sainsbury's have an excellent selection of mobile phones. £5-20 can buy you a cheap Alcatel mobile. £15 will get you the Nokia 108 or the Nokia 130.
Mobile by Sainsbury's also sell SIM free mobile phones at a higher price than network locked mobiles.
Tesco Direct sell a good range of feature phones. £9 will buy you a Samsung E1200 on the Vodafone network (£15 on Tesco Mobile). Tesco Direct sell feature phones from around £12-50, with a bit of an emphasis on senior mobile phones with big buttons - Watch out if you don't want to be tracked: These "senior" mobile phones can often relay location information periodically, or if a text is sent to them.
Tesco Direct also sell SIM free mobile phones at a higher price than network locked mobiles.
Carphone Warehouse has been around for years and they frequently have the best prices for low to mid range smartphones, though their selection of feature phones can be limited. The Carphone Warehouse website sells a very good selection of PAYG phones, sort these by price via the drop down menu and you will discover that you can even get the Samsung E1200 and the E1270 flip phone for FREE, with a £20 top up. The Nokia 108 is £10 with a £20 top up. The Nokia 225 is £30, but only a £10 top up is required.
Carphone Warehouse also do PAYG "upgrades", where if you are already on one of the main four networks on a PAYG tariff, you could get a new mobile for a vastly reduced price. This results in some absolutely stunning deals, but you need to have had a SIM card for at least six months and topped up regularly to be able to make use of these deals.
There are countless other online retailers who sell mobile phones, but prices vary. The above retailers consistently sell the lowest priced feature phones.
The first place that you should look is perhaps not online, but in your local supermarket if you want a basic mobile phone.
Head to the technology section of any of the larger supermarkets and you will find a range of phones from the cheapest, simplest mobile phones around through to the mid range smartphones.
Expect to pay anything from £10-£40 for a very basic mobile phone. Often, you may also have to buy a minimum top up credit of £10 on top of this price.
Where to buy cheap, basic, mobile phones - Supermarket tips:
Asda can have a decent selection of mobile phones, with the Samsung E1200 for £10 being a typical example of what you can expect. Asda also sell a range of mobile phones on different networks, including Asda Mobile, Vodafone and EE.
Sainsbury's is your next best bet for picking up a cheap feature phone. In Sainsbury's, you will find a much better range of mobile phones, plus you can usually find out what they are likely to have in-store by looking at their website. Mobiles from Sainsbury's are available SIM free (i.e. not locked to any network) as well as PAYG mobiles which may need the usual £10 top up when purchasing the phone.
Sainsbury's also stock mobiles from different networks, such as Mobile by Sainsbury's, Vodafone, Virgin, EE, etc.
Tesco also have their own Virtual Mobile Network, just like Asda Mobile and Mobile by Sainsbury's, but Tesco's in-store phone shops place their own network first and foremost. Choice and prices are similar to those from Sainsbury's.
Tesco Direct (the online retailer) sells a wide range of simple mobile phones. They even have their very own feature phone section of the website; see HERE.
You can find mobile phones in the other supermarkets, but choice is limited.
On the High Street.
Shops that sell feature phones have become uncommon as the phones themselves. Carphone Warehouse is about the only one left which sells a variety of mobiles on different networks.
Take a look at the Carphone Warehouse website, and you will see just how few of these phones they stock in comparison to the supermarket chains. This is a sign of the times, as most people are using/wanting smartphones these days.
However, Carphone Warehouse is still worth a look, just don't get roped in to getting a contract by their sales advisers!
The main networks all have a high street presence, and don't forget that O2, EE, Vodafone and Three all sell PAYG mobile phones as well as their contract phones and SIMs.
O2 usually have the best selection of cheap PAYG mobile phones, followed by EE.
Where to buy cheap, basic, feature phones online.
Looking for a cheap, basic mobile phone, but don't mind registering your personal details (name, address, bank details) in to get hold of one? Online is a great place to get a feature phone.
eBay sell plenty of feature phones, but expect to pay higher than average prices for them - unless you don't mind refurbished/second hand.
All of the retailers that I've mentioned above sell cheap feature phones, and buying online is quick and easy. Delivery charges are usually free or around £5, and delivery is quite often next day. A signature is almost always required when taking delivery of a mobile phone.
Expansys is a very good resource. This company sells a very wide range of mobile phones, from the very basic to the latest flagship smartphones. Their prices for cheap mobiles range from £26-£100 for basic mobile phones and smartphones.
Stock levels vary, and prices are slightly higher than other retailers (the Microsoft Lumia 435 costs around £67, when it's available for around £50 elsewhere), but you can often find a bargain at Expansys: Their buying power means that they obtain shipments of older phones for good prices, so you could find exactly what you are looking for at Expansys.
Asda sell the Samsung E1200 for £10 on Vodafone, £15 gets you the Nokia 108. Alcatel mobile phones are available from around £9 on Asda Mobile and Virgin.
Mobile by Sainsbury's have an excellent selection of mobile phones. £5-20 can buy you a cheap Alcatel mobile. £15 will get you the Nokia 108 or the Nokia 130.
Mobile by Sainsbury's also sell SIM free mobile phones at a higher price than network locked mobiles.
Tesco Direct sell a good range of feature phones. £9 will buy you a Samsung E1200 on the Vodafone network (£15 on Tesco Mobile). Tesco Direct sell feature phones from around £12-50, with a bit of an emphasis on senior mobile phones with big buttons - Watch out if you don't want to be tracked: These "senior" mobile phones can often relay location information periodically, or if a text is sent to them.
Tesco Direct also sell SIM free mobile phones at a higher price than network locked mobiles.
Carphone Warehouse has been around for years and they frequently have the best prices for low to mid range smartphones, though their selection of feature phones can be limited. The Carphone Warehouse website sells a very good selection of PAYG phones, sort these by price via the drop down menu and you will discover that you can even get the Samsung E1200 and the E1270 flip phone for FREE, with a £20 top up. The Nokia 108 is £10 with a £20 top up. The Nokia 225 is £30, but only a £10 top up is required.
Carphone Warehouse also do PAYG "upgrades", where if you are already on one of the main four networks on a PAYG tariff, you could get a new mobile for a vastly reduced price. This results in some absolutely stunning deals, but you need to have had a SIM card for at least six months and topped up regularly to be able to make use of these deals.
There are countless other online retailers who sell mobile phones, but prices vary. The above retailers consistently sell the lowest priced feature phones.
PART 2: SMARTPHONES.
If you want a cheap smartphone, then prices can be higher than feature phones. However, competition is much greater and it is possible to pick up a smartphone for as little as 99p (+ top up) occasionally at Carphone Warehouse if you are already a PAYG customer.
Cheap smartphones will never match the flagship handsets in terms of usability, but they will do the basics if you don't try to fill them with apps.
Low end Android smartphones can be bought for incredibly low prices these days (often less than some feature phones).
If all you need is basic call, text, email and web browsing, then these cheap smartphones can be a fantastic spare mobile - or may even be enough for some very light/casual users.
Remember that the battery life of all smartphones is measured in hours, rather than days: Even the cheapest smartphones, when used lightly, will run low on battery power after a day of "regular" use. Smartphones running the Microsoft Windows operating system generally have slightly better battery lives, and can last several days between charges if used infrequently.
Looking for a cheap iPhone? A quick word in your shell-like: These can never be bought cheaply, so could never be considered to be a burner phone. Second hand iPhones that are two or more generations old are about the best/cheapest iPhones that you are likely to be able to get hold of, so iPhones will not be covered here.
Remember that smartphones generally can't be considered to be "burner phones" - By their very nature, smartphones are always connected and traceable.
For example, ISIS fighters in Syria have been wiped out by missile strikes through using Twitter and Facebook on their smartphones. Why? Their positions were automatically reported by apps, enabling accurate targetting of the missiles.
It is possible to create a "non-personal" online account that you can use with the various smartphone operating systems, so combine this with a PAYG SIM and you aren't specifically linked to anything.
Smartphones running the Window Phone operating system are available for (usually) a lot less then their Android-running counterparts; Windows Phone smartphones also run far better and much more smoothly than cheap Android phones. If you want a basic smartphone with maps, GPS and the ability to sync contacts, the Windows Phone operating system is a much, much better choice than any Android phone at this price point. You can load more apps on a Windows Phone without the thing grinding to a halt like similarly priced Android phones, so if you are after an efficient, effective smartphone at a bargain price (and you don't need to use Android or have the latest apps), then Windows Phone is highly recommended.
Where to buy cheap smartphones - Supermarket tips:
Asda can have a reasonable selection of mobile phones, but local stock levels fluctuate wildly. Finding a bargain mobile in Asda can be hit and miss, but it's a good place to start.
Asda also sell a range of mobile phones on different networks, including Asda Mobile, Vodafone and EE.
Smartphones in Asda supermarkets start from around £30 for the Vodafone First Smart 6, with the EE Rook costing £50-60. Various other Android smartphones (from Alcatel and Samsung) cost about £40-70 at Asda.
The lower end Windows Phone smartphones at Asda cost from £45-75.
Sainsbury's is a good bet for picking up a cheap smartphone. In Sainsbury's, you will find a much better range of smartphones, plus you can usually find out what they are likely to have in-store by looking at their website.
Mobiles from Sainsbury's are available SIM free (i.e. not locked to any network) as well as PAYG mobiles which may need the usual £10 top up when purchasing the phone.
Sainsbury's also stock mobiles from different networks, such as Vodafone, Virgin, EE, etc.
Tesco also have their own Virtual Mobile Network, just like Asda Mobile, but Tesco's in-store phone shops place their own network first and foremost. Choice and prices are similar to those from Sainsbury's.
Tesco Direct (the online retailer) sells a wide range of mobile phones; you can buy mobiles which are locked to a network as well as SIM-free (unlocked) mobile phones.
You can find mobile phones in the other supermarkets, but choice is limited and prices can be much higher.
On the High Street.
Carphone Warehouse is the only high street shop left which sells a wide range of mobiles on different networks.
Carphone Warehouse sell the full spectrum of mobile phones from dirt cheap basic mobile phones up to top of the range flagship smartphones - Most of which are available on PAYG.
This retailer is just about the cheapest place to go if you want a cheap smartphone that does the essentials. Even though PAYG credit often has to be purchased along with the phone (adding £10-20 to the price), Carphone Warehouse phones are all unlocked, which means that they can be used with any network's SIM card - Useful if you want to swap and change SIMs.
The main networks all have a high street presence, and don't forget that O2, EE, Vodafone and Three all sell PAYG mobile phones as well as their contract phones and SIMs.
O2 usually have the best selection of cheap PAYG mobile phones, followed by EE.
Where to buy cheap smartphones online.
Looking for a burner phone, but don't mind registering your personal details (name, address, bank details) in to get hold of one?
Online is still a great place to get a cheap smartphone.
There are a lot of smartphones for sale on eBay, but expect to pay higher than average prices for them - unless you don't mind refurbished/second hand.
The "Daily Deals" section of the eBay website has a mobile phone section, and this is often worth a look. Watch out for little-known brands which are imported from the East; some are ok for the price, but others can be disappointing, plus you'll usually have to wait a while for shipping from the Far East, and returns/customer support is best forgotten about altogether.
Expansys is a very good resource. This company sells a very wide range of mobile phones, from the very basic to the latest flagship smartphones. Their prices for cheap mobiles range from £26-£100 for basic mobile phones and smartphones.
Stock levels vary, and prices are slightly higher than other retailers (the Microsoft Lumia 435 costs around £67, when it's available for around £50 elsewhere), but you can often find a bargain at Expansys: Their buying power means that they obtain shipments of older phones for good prices, so you could find exactly what you are looking for at Expansys.
All of the retailers that I've mentioned previously sell cheap smartphones, and buying online is quick and easy. Delivery charges are usually free or around £5, and delivery is quite often next day. A signature is almost always required when taking delivery of a mobile phone.
Asda sell a few cheap smartphones: The Vodafone Smart First 6 is only £30 at the moment. This is a very good price for a basic Android mobile phone. Asda also sells the EE Rook, and Samsung Galaxy Young 2 for around £60 each - Both are reasonably capable smartphones for the price, but don't expect too much from them.
Mobile by Sainsbury's have an excellent selection of mobile phones. Basic smartphones from companies such as Alcatel and Huawei cost around £25-50. Samsung smartphones generally start at £40 for a refurbished handset.
Mobile by Sainsbury's also sell SIM free mobile phones at a higher price than network locked mobiles.
Tesco Direct sell a good range of smartphones, with prices starting at £30 for Vodafone and EE network-locked smartphones. If you wish to pay more for a slightly better smartphone, then other cheap Windows Phone and Android smartphones cost around £50-100.
Tesco Direct also sell SIM free mobile phones at a higher price than network locked mobiles.
Carphone Warehouse has been around for years and they frequently have the best prices for low to mid range smartphones. The Carphone Warehouse website sells a very good selection of PAYG phones, sort these by price via the drop down menu and you will discover that Carphone Warehouse do have the occasional bargain. Prices start from around £25-50 for a cheap, basic smartphone. Slightly better smartphones start at around £65.
Carphone Warehouse also do PAYG "upgrades", where if you are already on one of the main four networks on a PAYG tariff, you could get a new mobile for a vastly reduced price. This results in some absolutely stunning deals, but you need to have had a SIM card for at least six months and topped up regularly to be able to make use of these deals.
There are countless other online retailers who sell mobile phones, but prices vary. The above retailers consistently sell the lowest priced mobile phones.
If you want a cheap smartphone, then prices can be higher than feature phones. However, competition is much greater and it is possible to pick up a smartphone for as little as 99p (+ top up) occasionally at Carphone Warehouse if you are already a PAYG customer.
Cheap smartphones will never match the flagship handsets in terms of usability, but they will do the basics if you don't try to fill them with apps.
Low end Android smartphones can be bought for incredibly low prices these days (often less than some feature phones).
If all you need is basic call, text, email and web browsing, then these cheap smartphones can be a fantastic spare mobile - or may even be enough for some very light/casual users.
Remember that the battery life of all smartphones is measured in hours, rather than days: Even the cheapest smartphones, when used lightly, will run low on battery power after a day of "regular" use. Smartphones running the Microsoft Windows operating system generally have slightly better battery lives, and can last several days between charges if used infrequently.
Looking for a cheap iPhone? A quick word in your shell-like: These can never be bought cheaply, so could never be considered to be a burner phone. Second hand iPhones that are two or more generations old are about the best/cheapest iPhones that you are likely to be able to get hold of, so iPhones will not be covered here.
Remember that smartphones generally can't be considered to be "burner phones" - By their very nature, smartphones are always connected and traceable.
For example, ISIS fighters in Syria have been wiped out by missile strikes through using Twitter and Facebook on their smartphones. Why? Their positions were automatically reported by apps, enabling accurate targetting of the missiles.
It is possible to create a "non-personal" online account that you can use with the various smartphone operating systems, so combine this with a PAYG SIM and you aren't specifically linked to anything.
Smartphones running the Window Phone operating system are available for (usually) a lot less then their Android-running counterparts; Windows Phone smartphones also run far better and much more smoothly than cheap Android phones. If you want a basic smartphone with maps, GPS and the ability to sync contacts, the Windows Phone operating system is a much, much better choice than any Android phone at this price point. You can load more apps on a Windows Phone without the thing grinding to a halt like similarly priced Android phones, so if you are after an efficient, effective smartphone at a bargain price (and you don't need to use Android or have the latest apps), then Windows Phone is highly recommended.
Where to buy cheap smartphones - Supermarket tips:
Asda can have a reasonable selection of mobile phones, but local stock levels fluctuate wildly. Finding a bargain mobile in Asda can be hit and miss, but it's a good place to start.
Asda also sell a range of mobile phones on different networks, including Asda Mobile, Vodafone and EE.
Smartphones in Asda supermarkets start from around £30 for the Vodafone First Smart 6, with the EE Rook costing £50-60. Various other Android smartphones (from Alcatel and Samsung) cost about £40-70 at Asda.
The lower end Windows Phone smartphones at Asda cost from £45-75.
Sainsbury's is a good bet for picking up a cheap smartphone. In Sainsbury's, you will find a much better range of smartphones, plus you can usually find out what they are likely to have in-store by looking at their website.
Mobiles from Sainsbury's are available SIM free (i.e. not locked to any network) as well as PAYG mobiles which may need the usual £10 top up when purchasing the phone.
Sainsbury's also stock mobiles from different networks, such as Vodafone, Virgin, EE, etc.
Tesco also have their own Virtual Mobile Network, just like Asda Mobile, but Tesco's in-store phone shops place their own network first and foremost. Choice and prices are similar to those from Sainsbury's.
Tesco Direct (the online retailer) sells a wide range of mobile phones; you can buy mobiles which are locked to a network as well as SIM-free (unlocked) mobile phones.
You can find mobile phones in the other supermarkets, but choice is limited and prices can be much higher.
On the High Street.
Carphone Warehouse is the only high street shop left which sells a wide range of mobiles on different networks.
Carphone Warehouse sell the full spectrum of mobile phones from dirt cheap basic mobile phones up to top of the range flagship smartphones - Most of which are available on PAYG.
This retailer is just about the cheapest place to go if you want a cheap smartphone that does the essentials. Even though PAYG credit often has to be purchased along with the phone (adding £10-20 to the price), Carphone Warehouse phones are all unlocked, which means that they can be used with any network's SIM card - Useful if you want to swap and change SIMs.
The main networks all have a high street presence, and don't forget that O2, EE, Vodafone and Three all sell PAYG mobile phones as well as their contract phones and SIMs.
O2 usually have the best selection of cheap PAYG mobile phones, followed by EE.
Where to buy cheap smartphones online.
Looking for a burner phone, but don't mind registering your personal details (name, address, bank details) in to get hold of one?
Online is still a great place to get a cheap smartphone.
There are a lot of smartphones for sale on eBay, but expect to pay higher than average prices for them - unless you don't mind refurbished/second hand.
The "Daily Deals" section of the eBay website has a mobile phone section, and this is often worth a look. Watch out for little-known brands which are imported from the East; some are ok for the price, but others can be disappointing, plus you'll usually have to wait a while for shipping from the Far East, and returns/customer support is best forgotten about altogether.
Expansys is a very good resource. This company sells a very wide range of mobile phones, from the very basic to the latest flagship smartphones. Their prices for cheap mobiles range from £26-£100 for basic mobile phones and smartphones.
Stock levels vary, and prices are slightly higher than other retailers (the Microsoft Lumia 435 costs around £67, when it's available for around £50 elsewhere), but you can often find a bargain at Expansys: Their buying power means that they obtain shipments of older phones for good prices, so you could find exactly what you are looking for at Expansys.
All of the retailers that I've mentioned previously sell cheap smartphones, and buying online is quick and easy. Delivery charges are usually free or around £5, and delivery is quite often next day. A signature is almost always required when taking delivery of a mobile phone.
Asda sell a few cheap smartphones: The Vodafone Smart First 6 is only £30 at the moment. This is a very good price for a basic Android mobile phone. Asda also sells the EE Rook, and Samsung Galaxy Young 2 for around £60 each - Both are reasonably capable smartphones for the price, but don't expect too much from them.
Mobile by Sainsbury's have an excellent selection of mobile phones. Basic smartphones from companies such as Alcatel and Huawei cost around £25-50. Samsung smartphones generally start at £40 for a refurbished handset.
Mobile by Sainsbury's also sell SIM free mobile phones at a higher price than network locked mobiles.
Tesco Direct sell a good range of smartphones, with prices starting at £30 for Vodafone and EE network-locked smartphones. If you wish to pay more for a slightly better smartphone, then other cheap Windows Phone and Android smartphones cost around £50-100.
Tesco Direct also sell SIM free mobile phones at a higher price than network locked mobiles.
Carphone Warehouse has been around for years and they frequently have the best prices for low to mid range smartphones. The Carphone Warehouse website sells a very good selection of PAYG phones, sort these by price via the drop down menu and you will discover that Carphone Warehouse do have the occasional bargain. Prices start from around £25-50 for a cheap, basic smartphone. Slightly better smartphones start at around £65.
Carphone Warehouse also do PAYG "upgrades", where if you are already on one of the main four networks on a PAYG tariff, you could get a new mobile for a vastly reduced price. This results in some absolutely stunning deals, but you need to have had a SIM card for at least six months and topped up regularly to be able to make use of these deals.
There are countless other online retailers who sell mobile phones, but prices vary. The above retailers consistently sell the lowest priced mobile phones.