First, if you can wait, the 6 will be coming out in a few months.

A fun money-saving strategy is to get the 5S and then immediately sell it.

The 5S is selling for close to $700 for new in box.

You can then buy a used Verizon iPhone 5 for about $320. Or buy a 4S used for $200. Put that $380 right in your pocket. The iPhone 5 is just about as good as a 5S.

Once the new model comes out, the last model drops $200 or so in price, but used iPhones never really go below $200 no matter how old they are.

Great strategy if you are putting kids on your plan, etc.

I used to do this when I had my parents on my plan. We'd renew the contract, get new phones, and they would just keep using their old ones.

Be warned when Apple released a new OS, they sometimes slow down old hardware. I made the mistake of upgrading my iPhone 4 to iOS7. The 4S is fine on iOS7, but will certainly be too slow for iOS8.