If you're not religious, it's funny how the notion of Easter evolves in one's head over time. For The Big Deal it went from the weekend where you gorge on chocolate until you vomit, to the glorious fortnight off school (with added choc vomming), through to exam revision stress-fests… and now it's that long weekend where we sort out bills, botch some long-overdue DIY and scoff a Creme Egg if we're lucky.
But for phone companies, Easter is an opportunity to launch a plethora of cheap mobile phone deals, to convince you to spend at least part of your time off sorting your new smartphone contract. And given some of the offers we're seeing this Easter, you probably won't take too much convincing.
There are price drops on the new Samsung Galaxy S9, unbelievable free gift promotions, and a flurry of just-released handsets to consider. Here are seven phone deal treats that have got us salivating this Easter weekend.
- Just want to know today's cheapest prices? Then head straight to our best mobile phone deals page
1. The best Samsung Galaxy S9 deal yet
As the last notes of the Samsung Galaxy S9 launch fanfare fade in our ears, now's the time for prices to begin falling – which is great news, as it's a pricey piece of kit. In the Mobiles.co.uk Big Voucher Weekend, there's fifty quid to be saved on the new Samsung smartphone, making this the best-value S9 deal on the market in our eyes.
2. Save £££s in the Big Voucher Weekend
We know your game: find the mobile phone deal that you like, and then Google around for a cheeky little voucher code to shave an extra few quid off the price. Far from judging you, you sound very much like a person after our own money-saving heart.
But there's no need to creep around the internet looking for a code this weekend, as Mobiles.co.uk is putting them front and centre. The Carphone Warehouse-owned retailer has released dozens of new codes, with offers on the iPhone 8, iPhone SE and brand-new Huawei P20 joining the above S9 deal. And if the phone you covet isn't included, then the catch-all WEEKEND10 code takes a tenner off any handset.
Can't be bothered taking the time to trawl the Mobiles.co.uk website to find the code that suits you? We understand (that DIY isn't going to botch itself now, is it?) – so we've picked out our favourites here.
3. The Huawei P20 and P20 Pro are here
The first few months of 2018 were pretty slow for new smartphone launches. The Consumer Electronics Show in January didn't yield much at all, and there's always a bit of a delay after the phone-based fireworks of Mobile World Congress, which ended on March 1.
But now the new mobiles are hitting the shelves in their droves. There was the BIG Samsung Galaxy launch in February, new additions to the Sony Xperia range and now the latest flagships from Huawei.
Sure, you can find the best Huawei P20 deals and Huawei P20 Pro deals by heading to our dedicated pages. But as well as the cheap prices (you can get the P20 for as little as £18 per month!), we love that retailers are throwing in a free pair of Bose QuietComfort 35 II wireless headphones as well. That's a freebie worth over £300. Spiffing.
4. Free gifts galore with the Xperia XZ2
Talking of new phones, the Sony Xperia XZ2 is still in its pre-order phase following its presentation to the world at MWC a few weeks ago. And until it hits the shelves next Thursday, April 5, there are some spectacular free gifts to claim.
The likes of Carphone Warehouse, Mobiles.co.uk and Three are offering a free PS4 with Gran Turismo when you go for one of their Xperia XZ2 deals, with a clear disregard for the endless list of jobs you need to sort out this weekend. Or you can go all Ready Player One with Carphone or Mobiles by choosing a PSVR instead.
Alternatively, retailers such as Mobile Phones Direct and Fonehouse are giving away a pair of Sony WF-1000X wireless headphones. What's more, we've secured an exclusive XZ2 deal with the former on a massive 30GB data deal on O2. There's nothing to pay upfront, and it's £43 per month. Fantastic value.
5. Get snakey with a free Nokia 3310
Sorry for banging on about our love of freebies (we're not sorry), but with selected SIM only deals from Carphone Warehouse it will throw in a Nokia 3310 absolutely free of charge. When the Nokia 3310 originally launched in the 90s, the kind of gifts we would have been happy with were a packet of Pogs from the petrol station or some annoying bit of colourful plastic from a cereal box.
You can buy the Nokia 3310 for around the £30 mark, so a free one is certainly better than a kick in the proverbial. And the SIMO plans you can choose from range from 10GB of data for £17 per month on EE to a mighty 25GB for £25 on Vodafone. If you've just come to the end of your contract, or picked up a SIM free phone, then one of these deals might just do the trick.
6. Pixel 2 XL for an XS price
Ever get that funny feeling that you're being followed? We have this week – every site we seem to land on has an ad from Google promoting £100 off the search giant's massive Pixel 2 XL handset.
If Google's persistence has finally worn you down, and your finger is hovering over the 'BUY' button, then we'd calmly and politely urge you to STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING NOW!!!!!
The £699 price tag that Google is asking for the 64GB version of the Pixel 2 XL can be easily trumped by Carphone Warehouse, which is offering the phone for £70 less at £629.
7. (Price) hop like the Easter bunny
Is your dream Easter weekend lying in bed with a half-eaten Easter egg on your pillow and a computer on your lap, browsing phone websites looking for your favourite Easter promotions? Us too.
Well we don't want to spoil your fun, but we've taken the liberty of having a look around the networks to see which ones are joining in the Easter sales fun. Tesco Mobile has dropped its prices on the iPhone 6S and 7, while Three has an LG G6 deal for only £20 per month. Here's a full list of the networks with the cracking egg-cellent (sorry, we just can't) brilliant savings this weekend:
If you want to discuss, debate or deliberate any phone deals news and views, then head over to our @TRDeals twitter feed – you'll also find the latest offers on phones, TVs, consoles, broadband and more tech.
