True, but if you want a £600-£700 phone then it’s £1k over the two years (and you have to have the cash up-front). No such thing as free money.
True. I was just pointing out that there are other options that are a lot cheaper. And if I’m honest, having fiddled with my brother-in-laws Samsung S7 at the weekend, it really doesn’t seem much better than my Lenovo P2, so I am not sure spending more on a phone necessarily gets you much more (granted, the camera on the s7 is much better).
The HTC mentioned in the OP can be had for £600, so the SIM free option I suggested still saves money (between £100-200) and gives you a MUCH better data allowance.