The Best Smartphone for the Elderly and Pensioners

We often get calls asking us which the best smartphone for elderly people is. We find there is often a misconception that elderly people won’t be able to use the latest smartphones, this just isn’t the case.
With education programs such as Barclays digital eagles, pensioners are now becoming extremely savvy when it comes to using smartphones.

Fonehouse sells thousands of handsets per month. From our experience pensioners and elderly now want a smartphone which gives them access to the apps that anyone in the UK would use. OK, so they may not want the latest smartphone with the best display to play games, but they do want the ability to use Facebook messenger to keep in touch with family.

We did a small survey using our own customer database and spoke to seniors who have purchased smartphones. The common theme is they want access to apps that help arrange their daily lives easier.
We asked them what apps they would want to use, and this is the most common apps used daily.

• Facebook APP
• Messenger APP
• Banking app
• Utility App (energy and gas etc)

When asking them what mattered to them when purchasing a mobile there was another list of common requirements.

• A low monthly tariff
• A phone that’s fits in their pocket
• A screen big enough to read messages

One common comment was why should being older mean they can’t have a good quality smartphone!

Another common trait for elderly people is they are a savvy shopper. They often ask what the total cost of the phone is.

When purchasing a phone its often way more expensive to get the phone with no upfront cost as this means the monthly tariff will be higher. Pensioners often purchase the phone upfront and then buy a sim only package. This drastically drops the total cost of the phone.

So mobile phones do elderly people buy?

The iPhone 7 – The most popular phone for elderly people.

The iPhone 7 is a great smartphone and still one of the leading selling handsets in the UK. It’s extremely popular in the senior market and due to the iPhone 7 being an older generation phone the cost of both sim free and pay monthly plans makes this an attractive phone for elderly people.

The iPhone 7 is small enough to fit in your pocket, has great battery life and can support all the apps and elderly person is likely to use.

Samsung S7 Edge – Second most popular phone for elderly people.

The Samsung S7 Edge is a great phone for any generation but its very popular for pensioners. It has a large screen, can handle all the apps elderly people use and it has a great battery life.

Another great feature, like the iPhone 7 is its an older generation handset. The cost for the sim free handset is very affordable and pay monthly plans with no upfront cost are now under £30 a month.

iPhone SE – The third most popular phone for elderly people

The iPhone SE is another popular older generation handset. Its very popular with people want a good smartphone without crazy monthly costs. You can pickup the iPhone SE with no upfront cost for £15 a month.

It has a great display, excellent battery life and most importantly it gives pensioners everything they need to have a solid smartphone with sleek design.

If you are a pensioner looking for a phone or helping an elderly person with their purchase, you can call our customer service team on 0333 900 1133.