Earlier today we listed of all the iPhone 5s and 5c contract and prepaid pricing deals available from the various networks. We’ve done some analysing and found which of those are the best deals, and have you walking away with a shiny new iPhone without busting the budget.

iPhone 5c

The iPhone 5c is the new, lower-cost model to entice new users into Apple’s stable. Essentially, it’s an iPhone 5 in a new polycarbonate body, available in a range of colours. The lowest, outright price to get into a 5c is from MTN, which offers it on an Anytime 100 contract at just R279 a month. This contract offers R100 worth of airtime, 300MB of data and 25 text messages per month, for 24 months. Most importantly, though, the full cost of this contract (over the 24 months) is R6 696 – a whole R1 803 cheaper than buying the phone for cash through the iStore.

iPhone 5s

The iPhone 5s is the true, next-generation iPhone. It features Apple’s blazingly fast A7 processor – the first 64-bit processor to find its way into a smartphone. It also has a new TouchID fingerprint sensor, which allows you to unlock your iPhone in a flash, and without having to enter your passcode. We loved the iPhone 5s when we reviewed it shortly after the US launch in September, and you’ll love it, too.

Getting your hands on an iPhone 5s means navigating through a bevy of offerings from the major mobile networks. Our personal pick is, once again, from MTN. It offers a 16GB iPhone 5s on its MTN Anytime 200 contract, for R429 a month. This gives you R200 worth of airtime, 500MB of data and 200 text messages a month, as well as 30 minutes of free MTN on-net calls. Most importantly, the full cost of the contract over 24 months will be R10 296 – a mere R297 more than the retail cost of the phone. Cell C comes closest to that deal, offering the same amount of data and messages, and 200 minutes of talk time instead of the R200 of airtime that MTN does. However, this comes in at R549 a month; R120 a month more and R2 880 more over the term of the contract.