Other Advice on iPhone 17 / iPhone Air upgrade — sell outright vs trade-in vs carrier financing (Visible, T-Mobile, Verizon)

[Elektrofone]

I’m trying to figure out the smartest way to upgrade and would love some feedback to make sure my thinking is correct.

Current situation:

• iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro
• Interested in upgrading to iPhone 17 and iPhone Air
• Live in Philadelphia, don’t travel internationally, usually use ~20 GB of data/month (well under 50 GB)
• Rarely use hotspot
• Currently pay $50/month for Verizon Fios and $39/month for Apple One Premium Family (Music, TV+, iCloud 2 TB)

Device cost options:

1. Sell outright (Swappa/eBay)
   • Estimated proceeds: ~$1,265 after fees
   • Net out-of-pocket for new phones: ~$533
   • Cheapest option, but requires effort to sell/ship.
2. Apple trade-in + Apple Card financing
   • Trade-in values: $580 (16 Pro), $320 (14 Pro) = $900 credit
   • Net cost of new phones: $898 → financed over 24 months ($37/month)
   • More convenient, but ~$365 more expensive than selling yourself.
3. T-Mobile or Verizon financing
   • $0 upfront, bill credits applied over 24–36 months
   • Tied to higher service costs ($140+/month for 2 lines)
   • Lock-in period (esp. Verizon 36 months) limits flexibility

Service options:

1. Visible (Verizon network)
   • Visible+: $35/line → $70 for 2 lines
   • 50 GB of premium data per line before deprioritization, 10 Mbps hotspot
   • Visible+ Pro: $45/line → $90 for 2 lines, no deprioritization, faster hotspot
   • Cheapest unlimited option with solid performance.
2. T-Mobile prepaid (Essentials/Essentials Saver)
   • $80–100/month for 2 lines
   • 50 GB premium data per line, deprioritized after that
   • Since I’m always under 50 GB, deprioritization may not matter much.
3. T-Mobile postpaid (Experience More/Beyond)
   • $140–160/month for 2 lines
   • Truly unlimited premium data, no deprioritization
   • Includes perks (Netflix, Apple TV+), but feels like overkill for my usage.
4. Verizon postpaid
   • ~$140/month for 2 lines, bundled with Fios (-$15 discount)
   • Still more expensive than Visible and not worth it unless I want carrier perks.

2-Year Cost Estimates (devices + service + Apple One + Fios):

• Swappa + Visible+: $4,372 ($113/month effective)
• Apple Card trade-in + Visible+: $4,737 ($132/month)
• Swappa + T-Mobile Essentials Saver: $4,452 ($118/month)
• T-Mobile Experience Beyond: $5,064 ($211/month)
• Verizon Financing + Fios: $5,159 ($215/month)

My takeaway so far:

• Selling the phones outright and going with Visible+ looks like the cheapest path.
• Apple Card financing is decent if I don’t want to deal with selling, but costs a bit more.
• T-Mobile prepaid is an option, but not much cheaper than Visible and offers less consistency.
• T-Mobile/Verizon premium postpaid plans are the most expensive and probably overkill since I’m under 50 GB/month.

Question for the forum:

Am I thinking about this correctly? Has anyone here tried the new T-Mobile prepaid beta options or compared them directly to Visible? I’d love to hear about real-world performance and whether deprioritization is noticeable below 50 GB/month.


Thanks in advance!