O2 UK Officially Announce iPhone 4 Upgrade Plans For Existing Customers – [Updated x2: Micro SIM Info Announced!]

After what seems like waiting forever, UK telecoms network @O2 today announced official upgrade paths for existing iPhone customers.

Almost as ‘generous’ as AT&T’s offering, O2 are offering existing customers three options to upgrade to iPhone 4. The first is what they’re dubbing an ‘Early Upgrade Offer’.

Basically, this offer is valid from 24 June (the iPhone 4’s launch date) to 24 July 2010 and involves O2 knocking down the price it would normally cost you to buy out of the remainder of your current contract.

For example in my case, if I were to buy out without this upgrade offer it would cost me in the region of £220. But putting my contract expiry date into their new upgrade calculator returns that O2 is willing to let me buy out of my existing contract for just £100 – with 6 months left on my contact that works out at about £15 per month, compared to £35.

Instead of paying off your remaining contract in full, simply pay a one-off charge equal to £20 for each full month left on your contract. This reduced cost offer cannot be combined with any early upgrade eligibility you may have as part of O2 Priority List.

Simply enter your contract renewal date below and we’ll estimate how much your early upgrade charge will be. If you don’t already know your contract renewal date you will be able to find it out from mid-day on Thursday 10 June by texting DATE to 21302.

The second of the company’s upgrade options is to buy the iPhone 4 on PAYG, of which O2 is yet to announce the handset pricing for.

If you don’t want to upgrade to a new iPhone on a Pay Monthly contract, you can buy an iPhone 4 on Pay & Go. Remember you’ll need to continue to pay for your existing Pay Monthly contract. Pay Monthly customers with O2 Insure can move their new Pay & Go iPhone onto their existing O2 Insure policy. Just give us a call within the first 3 days of purchase to let us know.

The last option offered to existing customers is to wait until they are upgrade eligible.

All Pay Monthly O2 customers are part of O2 Priority List and everyone has an opportunity to upgrade early. Have a look at the table below to see how soon you will be eligible for an upgrade.

If you’re a Platinum customer – get a 6 month early upgrade
If you’re a Gold customer – get a 3 month early upgrade
If you’re a Silver or Blue customer – get a 1 month early upgrade

If you don’t already know your Priority List tier you’ll be able to find out from mid-day 10 June by texting DATE to 21302.

As noted above, O2 are yet to announce both handset pricing and data tariffs for iPhone 4, but stay tuned as we’ll be continuously updating this post with information from the firm, as and when it is released.

[Update] – @O2 have just this second announced tariff pricing for the iPhone 4.

Pay and Go pricing has not yet been announced, but O2 says those customers will be able to buy the device from any O2 shop, Apple Store or, The Carphone Warehouse, June 24th.

[Update 2] – @O2 have just this second announced information on the new micro SIM, stating customers who don’t yet have a micro SIM will be able to pick one up at the same time as ordering their new iPhone 4. Presumably that means June 15th when pre-orders begin.

You may have heard that iPhone 4 uses a micro sim, which is a smaller version of a standard sim. If you want to upgrade to iPhone 4 you’ll need to use this new micro sim instead of the sim you use now.

There are two ways to get a micro sim. If you’ve registered to receive iPhone 4 updates from O2, you may receive a micro sim from us in the post before iPhone 4 is available. We can’t guarantee that everyone who registers for iPhone 4 updates will get a micro sim, so if you don’t get one in the post, don’t worry. If you decide to buy iPhone 4, you will get your micro sim at the same time as your iPhone 4.

Stay tuned as we’ll be continuously updating this post with information from the firm, as soon as it is available.