These are the best Black Friday phone deals of the week

It’s the Black Friday weekend, and phone deals are in full swing. Case in point: here’s Mobile Phones Direct with a series of appealing phone contracts.

We’ve crunched the numbers, and all the deals below cut the mustard. That is to say that all of them beat the price of the SIM-free handset with a SIM-only contract of similar minutes, texts and data. Plus, of course, they have the advantage that you don’t have to pay an enormous lump sum in one go as the highest upfront cost is £50 and most of them have nothing to pay.

So without further ado here are our picks. Because there are so many, I’ve crudely divided them into cheaper (sub-£30 per month), pricier (sub-£41 per month) and priciest (sub-£63 per month).

Best cheap Black Friday phone deals

• Samsung Galaxy A51 | 2GB data (O2)  – £14/mth | no upfront | total: £336
• Samsung Galaxy A71 | 4GB data (O2) – £17/mth | £10 upfront | total: £573
• iPhone SE | 30GB data (O2) – £23/mth | no upfront | total: £552
• Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite | 30GB data (O2) – £23/mth | no upfront | total: £552
• iPhone XR | 100GB data (O2) – £29/mth | no upfront | total: £696
• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE | 45GB data (O2) – £30/mth | no upfront | total: £720  

These are all excellent handsets, but for my money, the S10 Lite is the pick of the Android phones here, offering very impressive performance with a processor that was cutting edge just a year ago.
 
Both the iPhones come with a free year of Apple TV Plus (and I’ve been very much enjoying football sitcom Ted Lasso lately, if you end up getting a free subscription). For my 2p’s worth, you’re better off saving money and getting the iPhone SE: it has the same powerful processor as the iPhone 11, even the camera performance is slightly weaker and the screen is smaller.

Best mid-range Black Friday phone deals

• Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G | 100GB data (O2) – £34/mth | no upfront | total: £816
• Samsung Galaxy S20 5G | 30GB data (Three) – £36/mth | no upfront | total: £864
• iPhone 12 mini | 250GB data (O2) – £41/mth | no upfront | total: £984
• Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus | 250GB data (O2) – £41/mth | no upfront | total: £984
• Samsung Galaxy Note 20 5G | 100GB data (Three) – £41/mth | no upfront | total: £984

Again, all solid phones here but my preference would be for the S20 5G which is worth the extra £2 per month on the slightly weaker fan edition. In fact, if you’re set on an S20 FE, I’d save another £4 per month and get the non-5G version – it’s not like there’s a whole lot of 5G coverage in the UK at the moment. 

Best flagship Black Friday phone deals

• iPhone 12 | 160GB data (O2) – £47/mth | no upfront | total: £1,128
• Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G | unlimited data (O2) – £50/mth | no upfront | total: £1,200
• Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G | unlimited data (O2) – £57/mth | £30 upfront | total: £1,398
• iPhone 12 Pro | unlimited data (O2) – £57/mth | £50 upfront | total: £1,418
• iPhone 12 Pro Max | unlimited data (O2) – £63/mth | £50 upfront | total: £1,562

There’s no contest in terms of the best pick here: the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G cost £1,199 when we reviewed it SIM-free and here it is for £1 more with a contract containing unlimited 5G data. Deals don’t get much better than that…

Buy from Mobile Phones Direct