M1, Singtel, And Starhub iPhone 11 Prices: Which Telco Is The Cheapest?

So… the new iPhones are out: iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

It goes without saying that picking any of Apple’s latest smartphones means making a really, REALLY expensive purchase.

And even though Seedly is all about making smarter personal finance decisions…

I’m not here to convince you to get a more economical alternative or to consider an older (and possibly cheaper) model of the iPhone.

You’re here because you’ve already decided that you’re going to purchase the latest iPhone.

So the real question is: Which telco should you buy your iPhone 11 from? And is the ‘SIM-only plan and purchase the phone separately’ option a better idea?

Let’s get to it, shall we?

---

TL;DR: Which Telco Has The Cheapest iPhone 11 Price?

• When choosing which telco to get your iPhone 11 from, don’t just look at the price of the device
• You need to factor in the plan you’re getting and take your data allowance into consideration to find the option with the best value
• SIM-only plan + buy your device separately is usually the cheaper option
• Use the Seedly SIM-only comparison tool to help you find the best option!

Disclaimer: We’re not sponsored by any of the telcos (big or small) to write this post! Also, the calculations presented here are based on my stipulated criteria so use them as a loose guideline when deciding where to get your iPhone 11!

---

How Much Would The New Apple iPhone Cost?

If you walked into the Apple store right now to buy your 2019 iPhone, here’s how much you’d expect to pay:

I know.

The prices are damn siao (Hokkien: crazy) right?

But now that you know how much the iPhone 11 costs, you’ll have a better gauge as to how much (more or less) you’d be paying if you’re planning to buy yours from the telcos.

---

M1 vs Singtel vs Starhub iPhone 11 Prices

The most obvious way of getting the brand new iPhone 11, at some kind of a discount, is probably through the telcos with a 2-year mobile contract.

It’s nigh impossible for me to tell you which telco has the cheapest iPhone prices because it really depends on:

• Which iPhone 11 model do you have your heart set on?
• What plan are you planning to commit to for two years?

With that being said, you’re probably wondering how much an iPhone would cost depending on which 2-year mobile contract plan you choose.

So here’s a compilation of iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max prices from the three biggest telcos in Singapore.

M1, Singtel & Starhub iPhone 11 Prices

M1 iPhone 11 Prices

Singtel iPhone 11 Prices

Starhub iPhone 11 Prices

Scenario 1: iPhone 11 (64GB) + SIM-only Vs Basic 2-Year Contract Telco Plan

To make this a realistic comparison, I’m going to look for the cheapest SIM-only plan (I’m aware that M1 and Singtel have lower-priced 2-year contracts, but I’m capping it at $50 to match Starhub’s lowest-priced option) with at least 10GB data.

Let’s use the Seedly SIM-only comparison tool to see which SIM-only plan fits the bill.

Here’s what it’ll cost if I added that to the cost of an iPhone 11 (64GB):

Side note: I’m aware that Gomo gives you free 10GB additional data if you switch from a non-Singtel telco by 30 Sep 2019, but I’m excluding that from my consideration as it’ll only last for 30 days.

For 2-year contract plans, I could go with the cheapest from each telco…

But seriously, even though Singtel Combo 1 is the cheapest plan amongst the three telcos, it only comes with a paltry 100MB of data.

NOBODY’s going to last one month on 100MB of data lah…

Let’s say I take $50 per month as the benchmark (since this is Starhub’s lowest price) and identify 2-year contract plans with the closest data cap to the SIM-only plan which I identified earlier:

If you’re only looking at 2-year contracts then the Singtel XO 48 + iPhone 11 option is the cheapest.

But I’d say that the M1 $50 per month plan + iPhone 11 option is of better value because you’re getting 7GB more data a month.

Note: this conclusion is based solely on my stipulated criteria

But if you consider the Gomo SIM-only plan + iPhone 11 option, then you’re paying lesser AND you’re getting twice the amount of data a month.

---

M1, Singtel & Starhub iPhone 11 Pro Prices

M1 iPhone 11 Pro Prices

Singtel iPhone 11 Pro Prices

Starhub iPhone 11 Pro Prices

Scenario 2: iPhone 11 Pro (64GB) + SIM-only Vs Basic 2-Year Contract Telco Plan

All of my previous considerations are the same. So I’m going to stick with the Gomo SIM-only plan for this scenario as well.

Here’s what it’ll cost if I tabulated the cost of the SIM-only plan to the cost of an iPhone 11 Pro (64GB):

Again, with $50 as my benchmark, here’s what the prices look like across all three telcos:

If you’re only looking at 2-year contracts then, again the Singtel XO 48 + iPhone 11 Pro option is the cheapest.

Interestingly, the price difference between the three telcos drops a bit as compared to the iPhone 11 comparison I did earlier.

In fact, by paying $10 more, I’d be getting 7GB of data more per month with the M1 option. Now that’s something to think about… especially if you’re a heavy data user.

Note: this conclusion is again based solely on my stipulated criteria

Regardless of which 2-year plan you choose, the Gomo SIM-only plan + iPhone 11 Pro option is cheaper and you’re getting more data overall.

---

M1, Singtel & Starhub iPhone 11 Pro Max Prices

M1 iPhone 11 Pro Max Prices

Singtel iPhone 11 Pro Max Prices

Starhub iPhone 11 Pro Max Prices

Scenario 3: iPhone 11 Pro Max (64GB) + SIM-only Vs Basic 2-Year Contract Telco Plan

You know the drill by now:

And here’re the prices across the three telcos:

No surprises here… The Singtel XO 48 + iPhone 11 Pro option is once again the cheapest amongst the telcos.

But as mentioned earlier, you might want to consider paying $10 more to enjoy 7GB of additional data per month with the M1 option instead.

Note: I know you’re damn sian of seeing this but AGAIN this conclusion is based solely on my stipulated criteria

Finally, as compared to the 2-year contracts the Gomo SIM-only plan + iPhone 11 Pro Max option is cheaper and you’re getting more data overall.

---

So… What’ve We Learnt?

1. Don’t Focus Only On The Price Of The Device

When choosing which telco to get your iPhone from, looking only at the price of the device won’t give you the whole picture.

Using Scenario 1 (and my criteria) as an example, M1’s price for the iPhone 11 (64GB) is the cheapest at first glance.

But once you factor in the monthly bill payment for 24 months (the duration of your contract), you’ll notice that Singtel is the cheapest option.

That being said, the Singtel option only gives you 10GB data per month.

Paying $15 more for M1 or $27 more for Starhub gives you 17GB and 15GB data respectively.

I mean, there’s no point in getting a snazzy new iPhone if you don’t have enough data to enjoy high-definition videos or games on it right?

2. SIM-Only Plan + Buying The iPhone Separately Is Still Cheaper (Most Of The Time…)

Based on my criteria, it seems like going with a SIM-only plan and buying your iPhone separately makes the most economic sense.

To further test this out, I decided to maximise the specifications of our data allowance and iPhone.

I’ll be pitting the SIM-only plan with the highest data cap in the market vs. the closest equivalent 2-year plan with the highest data cap in the market.

Naturally, we’ll be looking at getting the highest-tiered iPhone 11 Pro Max (512GB) too…

Using Seedly’s SIM-only comparison tool again, the SIM-only plan with the highest data cap in the market is…

MyRepublic’s SIM-Only Ultimate 80, which gives 80GB of data at 4G speeds.

Now comes the tricky part.

When it comes to 2-year telco plans with the highest data caps, most telcos will gift you a $500 yearly handset upgrade voucher (amongst other goodies) for being such a baller user.

Which means that at the one-year mark, you can always upgrade to the latest iteration of the iPhone.

This also means that I’ll need to adjust my metric to one year instead to get a more accurate comparison since I’m factoring in the purchase of the new iPhone.

Here’s what the cost looks like for MyRepublic SIM-Only Ultimate 80 (one year’s worth of subscription) + a brand new iPhone 11 Pro Max (512GB) from the Apple Store:

Let’s look at the 2-year contract options.

Assuming all three telcos gift you a $500 yearly handset upgrade voucher:

Now, I could go with Singtel Combo 12 as it’s the “cheapest”, but it only gives a maximum of 12GB data.

Instead, a closer equivalent (and more value for money option) to the MyRepublic SIM-Only Ultimate 80 (80GB data) would be the M1 $235 per month plan (112GB data).

And guess what?

Once you factor in the $500 upgrade voucher, the M1 $235 per month + iPhone 11 Pro Max (512GB) option is $149 cheaper AND you get 32GB more data monthly.

So there you go, an instance where the ‘SIM-only + buy phone separately’ option is more expensive than buying your iPhone with a 2-year mobile contract.

.

.

.

But seriously, if you’re spending THAT kind of money, I highly doubt you care about saving $149.