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Get your hands on iPhone 5

After two years of waiting, Apple’s new iPhone 5 has arrived and it comes highly recommended. Pre-orders hit a record two million within 24 hours of its availability. Amazingly, its system is 4G ready and includes an 8 megapixel iSight camera in addition to an even faster processor. This phone’s thin, sleek design also offers a 4-inch Retina display, a bigger 4” screen, wireless technology and weighs a mere 112g.

Better still, the lens is covered in sapphire crystal, which is a material often found in luxury watches. This makes the lens near scratchproof and benefits the quality of your photos, which can also now be taken using a horizontal panoramic function. The back of iPhone 5 is made from recyclable anodised 6000 series aluminium and ceramic or pigmented glass, creating a balanced finish. For these reasons and many more, it is the best iPhone to date. So, we examine the best contracts available with this new offering from Apple.

It’s well worth noting that Carphone Warehouse’s Network Price Promise ensures that you will get the best deal by checking and matching the retail prices of major networks. Here you’re also offered a great value postal trade-in option for your old phones that are priced according to weekly appraisals. But before signing up to a new contract, make sure that you’re getting the best deal for you. Jill Insley, head of The Guardian’s consumer team, explains, “More expensive monthly tariffs get you more data and calls, but the reduced handset costs mean the overall commitment is the same.”

So, for a 24 month unlimited O2 contract, for example, with unlimited minutes, texts and 1GB of data, you can get the 16GB for £46 a month with no charge for the handset. Or, the same deal is on offer from Vodafone for £37 per month, with an upfront charge of £99 for your phone. Orange offers the same deal for £36 per month and an initial cost of £109.99. Shorter 18 month contracts are also available from providers such as T-Mobile and Orange and start from as low as £31 per month, with additional charges for the phone itself. And, of course, all of these offers are subject to the individual sets of terms and conditions.

Finally, although it’s a bit premature to start thinking about the next Apple handset when this one is only a few weeks old, it’s worth noting that the iPhone 5 did follow a straight 24 months after the iPhone 4 arrived. So for those signing up to 18 month contracts get a deal that allows you to upgrade after a year if you want to keep ahead of the trends. You never really can tell what’s next in the life of smartphones.