UK consumers spend billions on annual smartphone upgrades
Monday, December 16, 2013 - 11:32:49
A new report has found that British mobile fans are collectively spending about £2 billion a year on upgrading their phones, according to the Telegraph.
A typical user will upgrade their device once every two years, with a total of almost £2,700 likely to be spent by each person over their life, to upgrade to a new handset.
Each upgrade comes at a cost of £77, while people will also pay around £69 to get out of an existing contract earlier than the allotted time allows, totalling a further £2,381 when totted up over the years.
Seventy four per cent of the 1000 people questioned in the study revealed that they do not see the benefit of picking a tariff which affords them the right to upgrade earlier than anticipated, in spite of the fact that this might help them save money.
This is in part due to a lack of understanding, with many consumers explaining that they do not understand the ins and outs of such contracts.
Of course, the best way to save money when upgrading to a new phone is to sell your old mobile online and send it to a recycling service, that will be able to reimburse you for your trouble and let you offset the expense of procuring a new device.
This is also the most environmentally sustainable way to carry out an upgrade, since it does not mean that you will have to leave a device lingering at home, or chuck it in the bin, where its materials may do damage once deposited at a landfill site.
Many people pay over the odds for their mobile phones and the tariffs that accompany them, but with a bit of research and savvy, you can make savings.
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