Been out looking at the latest recently? You'll probably have noticed that you can save a lot of money, as well as getting a free phone, if you opt for a longer contract period than you did a year or two ago.
Now many networks are beginning to move one step further and want to offer 24-month contracts, meaning they will retain their customers for longer and reduce the expense of giving phones away for free or at a value less than the phones themselves.
Manufacturers of are already being hit hard by the growing trend of people either recycling their phones or selling them off on auction sites like eBay. Fortunately the success and increase on demand is keeping an equal balance for now.
A trend which is seeing an increase, and is obviously expected to continue if the length of contracts does rise, is that of selling phone upgrades online. This is growing popular due to people looking at ways of subsidising their monthly line rentals, ultimately having a free contract.
Unfortunately phones are changing all the time and 24 months is a long time to wait until you upgrade, so how will networks address this? Well, some retailers were once offering 'VIP' packages which meant that their customers could upgrade their phones every six months. This didn't take off at the time but could be something soon re-introduced by retailers and networks alike.
It's not all bad though. Currently if you take out an 18 month contract over a 12 month period, you're likely to make a significant saving on your line rental and get a better phone for free. You are also likely to add to the number of minutes and texts you receive, sometimes adding an extra 200, depending on the network you choose.
With Orange are already claiming 70% of its new customers are already opting for the 18-month contracts, a 24-month contract is likely to be introduced over the next year with some interest.
