Black Friday iPhone deals: How to find an iPhone X, 8 and 7 for the lowest price this weekend

There's a lot of choices, and a lot of deals. Unfortunately that makes it very easy to get caught out

A boy makes faces while testing out the Animoji feature on an iPhone X at the Apple Store Union Square on November 3, 2017, in San Francisco, California (ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP/Getty Images)

Black Friday is here. And if you've ever wanted to buy an iPhone, now might be the best possible time.

The new models only came out a few weeks ago, meaning that everything is freshened up and your new purchase won't be ruined by another phone being released soon after it. What's more, the rush to win the Black Friday sales race means there's plenty of good discounts out there waiting.

Apple doesn't tend to do deals of its own, but plenty of other shops and companies do. You can find round-up of the best deals on Apple products – not just on the iPhone – here, and a full round-up of the best deals on everything here.

Once you're decided on a new phone, and that it'll be an iPhone, it's just the beginning. There's a lot more to be solved.

First, Apple now makes a whole range of new phones: various sizes, storage space, and other options. Picking through them can be a little complicated – though simple once you know how.

Second, iPhones are so popular and so widely stocked that navigating the deals can be a little complicated.

So here's something to help you answer the two big questions: how to decide which iPhone to get, and how to buy it once you've done so. (Skip down to the bottom if you've already decided what phone you want.)

How to decide?

The big question is which iPhone you want. (The rest of the questions are just as important, but a little more easy.) So let's take that first.

The helpful thing is that every new iPhone as you progress up the price has the same features as the one before it, but more. So you just need to decide what you need.

The iPhone 7 still has many of the best features of the iPhone. It packs in a stunning camera, lightning fast performance, waterproofing, as well as obviously using Apple's iOS and so getting access to all its great software. It also looks almost identical to the iPhone 8, at least with the case off.

If you're resolved to buy an iPhone, then you can't go wrong with the 7. There's nothing bad about it – nothing that the later, more expensive models fix – and instead you're just paying more for extra features.

But those extra features are plentiful. To take the 8, first, the biggest new additions are: inductive charging, which uses a glass back that also makes the phone shinier and heavier; a much improved camera system; a faster processor; and new colours. While it looks almost identical to the 7, and has no real headline features that you'd miss if you bought the cheaper model, it's just sleeker and smarter.

And the X packs on a whole lot more, too. In addition to having every feature of the 8, it's also got an entirely new design over the front, which allows the screen to stretch almost entirely over the front of the phone. And it's got Apple's Face ID technology, which allows you to unlock the handset just by looking at it as well as empowering the phone to see whether you're looking at it or not. It's been described as the phone of the future, today, and the features fit with that; they're very, very new.

To conclude: the 7 is cheaper but includes just about everything; the 8 is a great phone that's like the one you know but packs in the many futuristic developments found in the X; and the X is Apple's vision for the next ten years of iPhones, meaning that you get all the best and worst of being on the very cutting edge. Pick whichever makes you most excited, and which you can afford.

The other choices just come down to colour and storage. Colour is a matter of personal preference – though the iPhone 7's Jet Black is particularly beautiful. Storage just depends how much you can afford and how much you're planning to store, though Apple no longer sells any phones that have so little storage that it becomes frustrating, especially if you use things like streaming music and iCloud Photo Library.

What to buy?

Once you've decided, you've got to pick through all the best deals. Luckily we're here to do that for you.

As per our round-up of the best Apple deals, the stand-out iPhone offer is for the 7. Carphone Warehouse are offering £200 off the up-front cost, making the relatively cheap iPhone (at least relative to other iPhones) even cheaper. You can get hold of that here.

Deals are much fewer and far between with the newer phones – and especially with the X. But there are some deals going.

Here are the best:

• Vodafone – Apple iPhone 8, 64GB, 26GB Data, Upfront £20, Monthly £60
• Tesco – Apple iPhone 8 Plus, 64GB, 30GB Data, No Upfront Cost, Monthly £52.49 
• O2 – Apple iPhone X, 64GB, 30GB Data, Upfront £29.99, Monthly £78