I wanted a second mobile phone, partly as a backup, but mostly to take abroad to countries where my own provider charges are high i.e. where a second SIM would be useful.
Phone Comparison
| Name | Price | SIM | NFC | Memory | SD | 5G | Charging | Other | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motorola E22 | £79 | 2 | N | 64/3 | Y | N | 10W | NFC on 32GB | GSMArena |
| Motorola G10 | £100 | 2 | |||||||
| Motorola G32 | £100 | 2 | Y | 64/4 | Y | N | 30W | ||
| Nokia C21 Plus | £80 | N | Amazon | ||||||
| Nokia XR20 5G | £218 | 64/4 | Y* | Y | 18W/15W | rugged | TechRadar | ||
| Google Pixel 6a | £300 | 1+1eSIM | Y | 128/6 | N | Y | 18W | IP67, 2y OS | |
| Google Pixel 7 | £300 (only white) | 2 eSIM | Y | 128 | N | Y | 30W/wireless | IP68, 3y OS | TrustedReviews |
| Google Pixel 7a | £379 | 1+1eSIM | Y | 128/8 | N | Y | 18W/wireless | IP67, 3y OS | |
| Realme C31 | £119 | 2 | ExpertReviews | ||||||
| Samsung Galaxy A04s | poor reviews | https://www.techadvisor.com/article/2055370/samsung-galaxy-a04s-review.html | |||||||
| Samsung Galaxy A13 | £179 | 64/4 | Y* | N | 15W | TechRadar | |||
| Samsung Galaxy A14 5G | £139 | 2 | Y | 64/4 | Y | Y | 2y OS | TechAdvisor | |
| Samsung Galaxy A34 5G | £249 | 2 | Y | 256/8 | Y* | Y | 25W | 4y OS IP67 | TechAdvisor |
| Samsung Galaxy A54 5G | £276 | 2** | Y | 128/8 | Y | Y | 25W | 4y OS IP67 | TechRadar |
| Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro | £200 | ExpertReviews | |||||||
| Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 | £150 | 128/4 | N | Amazon | |||||
| Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro | £205 | 2 | Y | 128/6 | Y* | N | 67W | ExpertReviews | |
| Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 | £119 | 2 | Y | 128/4 | Y | N | 33W | 1y OS | UtterlyTechie |
Notes:
- In most cases the second SIM card replaces any micro-SD card.
- Some versions of the Samsung Galaxy A54 have eSIM support, including the model sold in the UK, but some grey-market sellers may ship versions that don’t.
Cheapest Prices
Once you’ve decided on a phone (I went for the Samsung Galaxy A54 because of the 5 years of updates and the eSIM capability), there are several ways to try to get it as cheaply as possible. These are mainly pretty obvious, but with some subtleties.
Manufacturer Sales
Wait for the manufacturer to have a sale. Most standard resellers also reduce their price to reflect this e.g. Amazon, Argos, John Lewis. For example, the Samsung A34 was reduced from £400 to £250 for the 2023 Black Friday sale, and the A54 is down from £500 to £400 in the 2024 New Year sale.
Grey Imports
Use “grey import” resellers such as DealMonday.co.uk and OurFriday.co.uk (which weirdly seem to be the same company – or at least the same address in Contact Us). Downsides:
- A fairly long delivery time (there’s a very expensive expedited option, but various reviews say this did not actually speed up the delivery – although the excess delivery cost was then refunded).
- Complications with the manufacturer warranty. (Often the importer will provide their own warranty instead, but that does rely on them being around in a year’s time.)
- Possible differences in phone spec. In the case of the A54, some international versions do not include eSIM support, and there’s a lot of contradictory information about exactly which model codes this applies to.
Ebay
In addition to the possibility of getting a cheap new or used phone from a private seller on eBay, there are several other options.
Clearance Sellers
Several major retail chains have official or unofficial eBay outlets that sell new, “open box” or refurbished products at significant discounts e.g. cheapest_electrical, currys_clearance, tesco_outlet.
Site Discounts
Ebay often runs promotions of 15-25% discounts for major sellers on the site, and some clearance sellers offer these. For example, currys_clearance was part of a 25% site discount in December 2023, and cheapest_electrical was offering 15% off in January 2024.