The run-up to Christmas this year has seen a more thrifty shopper with cheaper phones and low-end prepaid handsets running out the doors, leaving all the shiny smartphones behind. According to UK retailers, phones coming in under £30 are taking a bigger share of sales than they have in the past. These cheap phones include the Nokia 2610 and the Samsung E250. Retailers also say that the Samsung J700 is also going to be under quite a few Christmas trees this year as this handset is heavily subsidised and therefore, cheap.

Research firm GfK have found that 379,000 prepaid units were sold between 24 – 30 November, which is an increase of a staggering 40,000 sales on the previous week. Three weeks earlier, only 259,000 prepaid units were sold. As a result of this trend, industry experts believe operators will inject more money into cheap prepaid deals in the last few weeks in the run-up to Christmas.It won’t be the first time this has happened, with sales in the last week before last year’s Christmas exceeding one million sales after huge operator subsidies. So if you haven’t braved the crowds to do your Christmas shopping yet, perhaps it’s a good idea to wait for a few more days in anticipation of a better deal.