AT&T gives you a free phone- the cost is being stuck there for 3 years.

I got my 15 Pro from AT&T for free. I'll trade it in to Apple, who is knocking $520 bucks off the cost of the 16 Pro.

When my wife was taking my hand me down phone, I was getting a new phone every year, and only having to pay $600 the third year.

There is a cost in not being able to shop your plan vs other providers/promotions. Again, there's a reason they are giving you the phone for "free" -- because many other providers are willing to give you a phone for "free" and possibly give you a better rate.

I think I can actually get a 16 plus for "free", too. Went back and looked and it's seems to be an option without having to upgrade my plan.

We usually get shafted on upgrades because we don't have the most expensive T-Mobile plan.

Proposition Joe said:

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because many other providers are willing to give you a phone for "free" and possibly give you a better rate.

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then switch to the other provider..

62strat said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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because many other providers are willing to give you a phone for "free" and possibly give you a better rate.

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then switch to the other provider..

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But owe the old provider 30 installments worth of phone payments....

There is zero percent financing on these things, so I don't understand why anyone would pay all upfront.

Your're not getting any sort of better deal by paying for it all upfront than taking whatever offer you're getting, then paying it off to move on later if you find a better deal elsewhere.

20ag07 said:

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There is zero percent financing on these things, so I don't understand why anyone would pay all upfront.

Your're not getting any sort of better deal by paying for it all upfront than taking whatever offer you're getting, then paying it off to move on later if you find a better deal elsewhere.

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So you aren't beholden to the carrier? We buy our phones outright so we have flexibility.

A long time ago, you were entering into a contract (those were for 2 years) with an early termination fee of like $200.

Those have been replaced by the "here's a free phone, you'll probably stay".

ATT/Verizon etc are giving you a phone (if you have a trade in) at the exact same price as Apple would, subsidizing it, assuming you'll stay.

If 18 months you decide to go to Mint Mobile, or whatever, you just do that and pay off the half remaining.

I will take 0% financing on anything and everything every day of the week (unless price is negotiable by taking that). Which with iPhones, it is not.

Well, there you go. I haven't purchased a phone in 6 years so that probably explains that.

AgsMyDude said:

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62strat said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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because many other providers are willing to give you a phone for "free" and possibly give you a better rate.

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then switch to the other provider..

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But owe the old provider 30 installments worth of phone payments....

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you switch when you're already clear, obviously.

Apple has 24 month 0% financing with a fully unlocked phone. That's what I did for my 13 Max Pro, and will probably do for my next one.

20ag07 said:

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There is zero percent financing on these things, so I don't understand why anyone would pay all upfront.

Your're not getting any sort of better deal by paying for it all upfront than taking whatever offer you're getting, then paying it off to move on later if you find a better deal elsewhere.

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I know the smart thing to do is take 0% financing and pay it off slowly.

But there is a little part of me inside that HATES owing anyone or company money (including my house)

I know it's no different than a subscription service....even like TexAgs. But in my head I can cancel at anytime. If HEB offered 0% on groceries, Jcrew 0% on clothes, etc, I wouldn't do it

evan_aggie said:

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20ag07 said:

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There is zero percent financing on these things, so I don't understand why anyone would pay all upfront.

Your're not getting any sort of better deal by paying for it all upfront than taking whatever offer you're getting, then paying it off to move on later if you find a better deal elsewhere.

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I know the smart thing to do is take 0% financing and pay it off slowly.

But there is a little part of me inside that HATES owing anyone or company money (including my house)

I know it's no different than a subscription service....even like TexAgs. But in my head I can cancel at anytime. If HEB offered 0% on groceries, Jcrew 0% on clothes, etc, I wouldn't do it

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Depends. If cash flow is tight or you expect to need it for something important, then taking 0% and paying off on your own time can be smart. I've done this a few times in the past myself for various purchases.

If cash flow is good, then I would rather just pay up front and get it off the books.

When I paid up front for phones last time, I did it to stay out of a contract.

Also, I'm likely just using CC points to buy my next phone as well so people shouldn't forget that option.

62strat said:

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AgsMyDude said:

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62strat said:

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Proposition Joe said:

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because many other providers are willing to give you a phone for "free" and possibly give you a better rate.

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then switch to the other provider..

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But owe the old provider 30 installments worth of phone payments....

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you switch when you're already clear, obviously.

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Nah I just buy unlocked phones on black Friday, sometimes a model old. They offer 0% interest too.

Then I'm not tied to any carrier contract or carrier specific devices.

And I can leave to a new carrier at any point without any fees.

Proposition Joe said:

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There is a cost in not being able to shop your plan vs other providers/promotions. Again, there's a reason they are giving you the phone for "free" -- because many other providers are willing to give you a phone for "free" and possibly give you a better rate.

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It's almost certainly true that the vast majority of cost of the phone is built into the service plan fee and not recouped through the creation of a early termination fee. In other words, if you are on a carrier that is offering you the opportunity to trade an old phone in for a new phone and you're not taking it whenever that opportunity is made available to you then you are probably paying for something you are not taking advantage of.

If you asked a carrier executive what makes up the majority of the cost of a service plan it would not be the cost of the actual service, but rather the cost to retain you as a customer in a competitive marketplace or replace you as a customer in the event you decide to change carriers. Part of that cost is giving you a shiny new phone every 36 months. Take advantage of that opportunity or go with a service like Cricket or Mint if you aren't interested in phone upgrades that regularly.

Last time we bought phones was a couple years ago, but this is how it went.

We switched to Xfinity because the monthly cost was less than half of our old AT&T rate. The iPhone 14 was $1000 (I'm kind of guessing on numbers in this scenario as it was over 2 years ago so don't remember exacts). The trade in value of my old phone was like $250. They had a $250 off new phones "promo" for signing a contract. They then gave me a $500 VISA giftcard for signing a 24 month contract. Only termination fees of exiting the contract were having to pay off phone.

So, all in all, I was given rebates and credits of $1000 for a $1000 phone. But I still had 24 monthly payments of $20 (these payments totaled the VISA gift card they were offsetting).

This actually all worked out even better for me than just getting a free phone. My company allows me to expense $65/month for cell phone. My Xfinity phone bill I can expense is only $30 (half the two line bill). But I was also able to expense the $20 since that phone was tied to my name on top of getting that $500 gift card.

I hope you paid taxes on that! - IRS

On the phone? Pretty sure we paid them when signing the contract and trading in the old phone

I've been using the iPhone XR for awhile, but feel I need to upgrade. I typically like to stay a few models behind because I don't want to pay premium prices for the new models.

Would you guys recommend a iPhone 14 or iPhone 15?

I just want something that will feel like an upgrade and I could see myself replacing this one in 2-3 years.

15 is more differentiated from an XR than the 14, because it adds the action button (if going to a Pro model) and has USB-C. 14 generation I think would gain you lidar that I've used a handful of times as a novelty.

hph6203 said:

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15 is more differentiated from an XR than the 14, because it adds the action button (if going to a Pro model) and has USB-C. 14 generation I think would gain you lidar that I've used a handful of times as a novelty.

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I use the lidar measuring all the time. Love it.

arrow said:

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I've never seen a compelling reason to buy my phone outright from the manufacturer. I would if there was a discount. Maybe there is a fee I'm missing?

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Apple sometimes has good trade in deals for upgrades. I think I got $150 off a new iPhone 13 last year trading in two iPhone 8's. I could have sold the 8's on Swappa for $170. For me it wasn't worth the hassle for $20 x 2 phones to sell online.

Yes, the 13 was the old model, but I don't need the latest and greatest.

I ordered a 16 Pro and a 16 Pro Max for my wife and me. Ordered it straight from Apple, but typed in our AT&T info and got the $1000 off plus the value of trading in our old iPhone 12s. Super easy process.

Wildmen03 said:

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I ordered a 16 Pro and a 16 Pro Max for my wife and me. Ordered it straight from Apple, but typed in our AT&T info and got the $1000 off plus the value of trading in our old iPhone 12s. Super easy process.

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Can you do this for Verizon and stay on old plans? Anyone know?

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Can you do this for Verizon and stay on old plans? Anyone know?

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You're just going to have to punch it in. "Old plans" is too vague for anyone to answer.

Wildmen03 said:

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I ordered a 16 Pro and a 16 Pro Max for my wife and me. Ordered it straight from Apple, but typed in our AT&T info and got the $1000 off plus the value of trading in our old iPhone 12s. Super easy process.

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I like that but I don't want to be tied to carriers 36 month program. I'd just trade in to apple and then take whatever their discount it, which is about 500 bucks.

Jason_Roofer said:

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Wildmen03 said:

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I ordered a 16 Pro and a 16 Pro Max for my wife and me. Ordered it straight from Apple, but typed in our AT&T info and got the $1000 off plus the value of trading in our old iPhone 12s. Super easy process.

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I like that but I don't want to be tied to carriers 36 month program. I'd just trade in to apple and then take whatever their discount it, which is about 500 bucks.

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Understandable, but I've been with AT&T since they were Cingular, and SW Bell before that. My work phone is Verizon if for some reason AT&T service gets sketchy.

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I like that but I don't want to be tied to carriers 36 month program. I'd just trade in to apple and then take whatever their discount it, which is about 500 bucks.

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Youre not tied to anything.

If ATT gave you $1K per phone, and then in 18 months you found a plan that was $30/month cheaper, or ATT raised your prices $30/mo, you'd be breakeven.

Both of those things are unlikely to happen.

I'm certainly not an ATT shill. I just understand math. If you don't want to "feel" tied, then do what you want. Just recognize that you're not.

Sorry, really poor wording on my part. When you trade in, you agree to 36 months of credits. If you trade in your phone at 27 months, you lose the remaining credits and it all starts over. That's what I meant. I don't mind keeping my phones for 36 months, but sometimes they don't last that long and I have to replace them.