What is Raylo? Phone and tech leasing explained

Technology moves fast, and keeping up with the latest smartphones often means facing steep upfront prices or locking into lengthy, expensive network contracts. But what about leasing your phone and other tech devices?

One such service is called Raylo, but how does Raylo work? We’ll explain, including the benefits, drawbacks and costs.

What is Raylo?

Raylo is a subscription-based service that lets you lease (aka rent) various electronics, from smartphones to tablets, laptops to smartwatches, games consoles, TVs, headphones, PCs, and even home and beauty products like vacuum cleaners and hair dryers.

Brands available include Apple, Samsung, Google, Lenovo, Sony, Nintendo and Dyson. You can often choose if you want it brand new or refurbished.

Typically, you can rent a device for a set period, varying from 12-, 24- or 36 months, but you can also go on a rolling monthly basis if you don’t want to be tied down for a longer period of time. At the end of the contract, you return the device.

In simple terms, instead of financing a phone through a phone network provider with a bundled SIM plan, Raylo lets you get the hardware separately, without the huge upfront cost if you were to head to the shops and buy one.

Then, for phones, you can get your SIM deal from somewhere else, any network of your choosing, in fact, since the devices are completely unlocked. For other devices, like tablets and smartwatches, you can simply use them for as long as you need them.

Customers have quite a few benefits to enjoy when loaning rather than buying. One of the key benefits is that you have to make lower monthly payments. Rather than paying in full for the device or spending a ton to get it with a SIM contract, you pay a smaller amount every month.

You also get the flexibility to upgrade at the end of the lease term. With smartphone makers releasing new flagships every year, you could just lease the new model for a year and get a new lease for the new model when the new one is launched. You’ll never have an ‘old’ phone.

Raylo ensures phones are reused or recycled properly, which is a more sustainable and eco-friendly model than throwing the phone in your tech drawer.

How does it compare to buying a phone?

Fundamentally, the difference between Raylo and traditional purchasing is the difference between access and ownership. When you buy a phone, you pay for the asset itself; when you use Raylo, you pay for the utility of the device over a certain period of time.

That gives you a way to save money and more flexibility.

Buying a flagship smartphone outright requires a significant initial investment. Often, a top-tier model from Apple or Samsung will cost you north of £1,000. In contrast, Raylo typically charges a minimal upfront fee or no fee at all, depending on the credit check and the specific device chosen.

As mentioned, Raylo works on a subscription model where you pay a fixed monthly fee to rent the device. Because you are effectively paying for the depreciation of the phone rather than its full retail value, these monthly payments are generally lower than the instalments on a traditional financing agreement or a high-data carrier contract.

One of the biggest differences is ownership.

Most of us are accustomed to the idea of owning anything we get. When you’re done with it, you pass it off to your kids or another family member, or you sell it off for less than you originally paid.

With Raylo, you never own the device. When your lease comes to an end, you have to return the phone – much like renting an apartment, you eventually move out becuase the landlord owns it, not you.

The pros and cons of leasing

This business model comes with both advantages and disadvantages. One of the main advantages is that there are lower upfront costs, especially since shelling out £1,000+ outright isn’t feasible for many people.

You’re also a lot more flexible when it comes to connectivity since the phone isn’t locked in a specific mobile network or a long-term contract. In this way, you’re free to find the best SIM-only deal or eSIM you want and switch networks whenever you feel like it.

Consumers who prefer having the latest tech, leasing makes it easier to upgrade because you don’t have to bother about selling an old phone or trading it on to fund the new one. It’s also worth mentioning that leasing is much better for the environment because Raylo handles recycling devices that are at the end of their life cycle.

In this way, they don’t spend another five years in a drawer before ending up in a landfill somewhere, cutting down on e-waste. Raylo is a certified B Corp, a company recognised for “high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.”

There are disadvantages to this business model, too, starting with the fact that you don’t get to recoup any of the money you put into the phone or laptop or whatever tech you choose to stop using.

Monthly payments may be lower, but the total cost can potentially be higher. On the other hand, since there’s no upfront cost, it can be more practical financially. If you use a phone for three or four years before changing it, buying it outright may be cheaper in the long run.

There’s also the problem most clumsy people face – you’re responsible for the device’s condition. Normal wear and tear is perfectly fine, but if you crack the screen or you drop it in a puddle and there’s water damage, there will be repair fees to pay at the end of the contract.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages in short:

Pros

• Low or no upfront cost
• Low monthly costs
• Various contract lengths, including rolling
• Free upgrades
• Phones come with a case and screen protector
• Lifetime warranty included
• More eco-friendly
• Free next-day delivery
• 14 day free returns

Cons

• Limited device range
• No ownership
• Possible high total costs
• Potential damage fees

How much does Raylo cost?

Low monthly costs might seem appealing but how much does renting something on Raylo actually cost? It might be simple enough for a pair of headphones to compare the price to buying outright, but phones are more complicated as you need to factor the SIM costs to get data and calls etc.

The price will vary depending on what product you’re leasing, but let’s take the Samsung S25 Ultra 256GB as our example.

This one will cost you £1,249 to shop outright at Samsung’s store. At O2, it will cost you £30 upfront, then £44.31 per month until April, £46.81 per month for the second year (always ends in April), £49.31 per month for the third year, and £51.81 per month for whatever is left of your contract. If you were to get this contract right now, you’d end up paying £1,774.75.

At Raylo, you’ll pay £44.29 per month if you choose the 12-month plan or £25.49 for the three-year plan. If you want to be able to cancel at any time, the “monthly rolling” plan will cost you £55.49. In this scenario, you’ll also pay separately for a SIM, which adds roughly £10 per month to your cost, but at least you have full freedom to pick your favourite.

So, with the yearly plan, you’ll end up paying £531.48, while the three-year plan will have you paying £917.64 for the phone. Even if you add the costs of the SIM plan, you wouldn’t hit the same numbers we see at O2.

Galaxy S25 over 36 months	Raylo	Network cost	Buy outright
Upfront cost	£0	£30	£1,249
Monthly cost	£26.29pm	£44.31-51.81pm	–
SIM cost	~£10 per month	Included	~£10 per month
Total for 36m	£1,306.44	£1,804.75	£1,609

For a laptop, things are a bit more straightforward. The MacBook Air M4 with 16GB memory and 256GB storage is £999 at Apple. At Raylo, you can get one for £45.95 per month with a 12-month plan, £31.19 per month with a two-year plan, and £25.99 per month with a three-year plan. Even with the 36-month plan, you’d come up under the current retail price for this device at £935.64 total.

Of course, you wouldn’t own it outright, but you can always just pick a different, newer model, which you know will be available.

If you’re wondering, ‘Why is Raylo so cheap?’, the primary reason is that the company still owns the device, so it can send it to the next customer when you are done. It’s win-win if the agreement works for you.

Who is Raylo best for?

Assuming the site has the device you want, it’s mainly about the ability to pay a low monthly cost and being able to upgrade regularly to new models at no additional cost.

It’s also for you if you want a hassle-free system that’s also more eco-friendly and sustainable.

Who should avoid Raylo?

If you like to keep your phone or other tech product for a long time and then use it for trade-in credit or sell it privately, then Raylo probably isn’t for you.

It’s also not ideal if you’re likely to be hard on the device, as damage fees will be charged when you send it back if it’s not considered normal wear and tear.

Raylo also keeps a limited stock of devices. So, taking phones for example, the choices are iPhone, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy. If you want a Motorola, OnePlus, Nothing, Xiaomi, Oppo or another brand, then you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Other device categories are similar, with Home and Beauty only featuring Dyson.

Is Raylo worth it? The verdict

Leasing a phone or other tech product isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.

Raylo and other similar services are meant for people who like the flexibility of jumping from device to device, upgrading regularly and don’t want to deal with the high upfront costs of buying and the depretiaion which comes with ownership.

For phones in particular, it gives you the flexibility of getting a phone on a monthly cost while choosing a SIM deal regularly.

Our advice is to carefully research how the cost of the device you want compares to leasing it from Raylo, while factoring in the pros and cons. You will ultimately need to decide which makes more sense financially, which may not just be which one is cheaper overall.

If you prefer buying a phone and using it until it dies on you, then this business model is definitely not for you. Also, if you’re clumsy and have broken the screen of every phone you’ve ever had, then it’s not the best choice either.