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Americans, would you pay $968 for an unlocked 32GB iPhone 5

  • yes

    Votes: 22 9.9%
  • no

    Votes: 201 90.1%

  • Total voters
    223
We all actually pay more than $968 dollars for the phone, it's just that most of us get it amortized over a 2 year period with the cost buried in the monthly phone bill.
 
We all actually pay more than $968 dollars for the phone, it's just that most of us get it amortized over a 2 year period with the cost buried in the monthly phone bill.

Not true. Your monthly costs will be the same whether you buy a new phone or not.
 
Let me guys tell you the price right now where I live.We dont have an official price yet but some stores have it and they sell it for : 1826 Us Dollars and for particular Turkish price it was 3300 TL 2 weeks ago :D Anyone to pass ? And let me tell you funnier part of it :D WE DONT HAVE NANO SIM IN TURKEY YET , so the phone which you paid 1826 Dollars wont work unless the operators in Turkey provide you one and the biggest of this providers said that we dont plan to bring Nano-Sım before december or january 2013 :D Any words ?

I read somewhere that you can actually cut down a mini or micro SIM into a nano SIM. Quite a hit and miss since it doesn't always work. But some did.

Still, for $1800 phone, I'd want my phone works right out of the box, without trying to be smart, risk the whole thing and cut down the SIM myself. But some people would, just to show the world how rich they really are :rolleyes:
 
Well, if you get an unlocked phone, you can always use T-Mobile and if you don't talk a lot or use VoIP, you can get their $30/month plan with 100 minutes and unlimited text/data (capped after 5gb).

Or you can always use an MVNO like StraightTalk to get unlimited talk/text/data (not really unlimited, but at least 2gb uncapped) for $45/month.
 
$749 in the US (before sales tax)
$805 in the UK (before sales tax)
This. Don't forget EU version carry a 2 year warranty (1 year apple care + 1 year statutory warranty). Do EU citizens really think they get the warranty for free? ... :rolleyes:
 
AmEx gives you two years too.

No I wouldn't pay over retail for a 32. Even if overseas, if you have a North American friend I'd ask them maybe.
 
This is why i will purchase the ATT phone at full price, Unlock it with ebay and then use it on T-Mobile. They will have their 3G network up by December and their LTE-Advance network up by summer 2013. Unlike other carriers here in the US they actually give you a discount on price for bringing your own phone. So i will be paying $110 i will get unlimited talk, text and data (slows down after 2GB) for 3 lines. You can't beat that here in the US. So i will be purchasing a full priced 64gb iPhone 5 for me and a 16Gb iPhone 5 for the wife and still at the end of the 2 years would still save money compared to ATT.
 
Where are all the self righteous members who would pay this price if the iPhone was MADE IN USA and would bring jawwwbs back into the US?
 
I paid less than this for my brand new 64gb LTE iPad 3. You're crazy(or just have money to burn) if you pay that much for an unlocked 32gb iPhone 5.
 
So u would rather pay more over a 24 month period just to not pay $1000 upfront?

Seems like the US carriers have many people who are on single or even 2 line plans fooled with their postpaid plans.

The true savings don't really kick in until line 4 in a family plan.

US carriers don't offer cheaper plans if you provide your own phone. In Europe what you're saying makes sense, the US market is totally different.

Here, it makes no sense at all to buy a phone outright. The discount provided with a contract is usually much bigger than the fees you would be charged to cancel the contract early.

Whether that's good, bad or ugly is irrelevant. It's the reality of the American market.

----------

That they don't give you a break for using your own phone does not prove the cost of one isn't built into the monthly payments. It is.

You're right. The cost is built into the cost of the plans. Nobody gets anything for free, ever.

Still, American carriers don't offer cheaper plans in exchange for providing your own phone or buying one at the full price. Europe is different.
 
We all actually pay more than $968 dollars for the phone, it's just that most of us get it amortized over a 2 year period with the cost buried in the monthly phone bill.
subsidized $299+tax, + 2 years (stuck on their network)
vs
factory unlocked $749+tax, + 2 years (option to try prepaid or other carriers)

unless you intend on not having cell service during the next 2 years, or very insecure about staying on one network for that period of time, why not get the subsidized unit within the USA?
 
I paid less than this for my brand new 64gb LTE iPad 3. You're crazy(or just have money to burn) if you pay that much for an unlocked 32gb iPhone 5.

Not really. As you Americans say, do the math: :p

£599 + (£12pm*24)

or 140 + (£35pm*24)

Both are comparable contracts (first one is a SIM only one), each containing unltd data, around 250-300 minutes and enough texts (first is unltd, second is 5000).
Bearing in mind the second contract is the best value one you can get, plus with the SIM only one you're free to switch carrier any time you want, unless you can't afford the upfront cost, there is no reason to go one on a contract.
 
Not really. As you Americans say, do the math: :p

£599 + (£12pm*24)

or 140 + (£35pm*24)

Both are comparable contracts (first one is a SIM only one), each containing unltd data, around 250-300 minutes and enough texts (first is unltd, second is 5000).
Bearing in mind the second contract is the best value one you can get, plus with the SIM only one you're free to switch carrier any time you want, unless you can't afford the upfront cost, there is no reason to go one on a contract.

Yes, but I believe in US you CAN'T get any cheaper plans by using your own device, or paying it upfront. It doesn't help bring down the cost just like you can in UK.

So .. there's no really good reason to get an off contract iPhone here in US. It doesn't save you money over short/long term. In fact, you choke on your wallet by paying it upfront. Even paying an early termination fee is still cheaper than doing it.
 
I read somewhere that you can actually cut down a mini or micro SIM into a nano SIM. Quite a hit and miss since it doesn't always work. But some did.

Still, for $1800 phone, I'd want my phone works right out of the box, without trying to be smart, risk the whole thing and cut down the SIM myself. But some people would, just to show the world how rich they really are :rolleyes:


And the funny thing you dont have a guarentee of anything because its an imported phone :D And to correct myself the price I am saying is not for 64 GB i, its for 16 GB :D :D :D
 
Humm...

Is the iPhone 5 32gb worth $500 more than the 64gb ipod touch for cellular support and the A6? Personally not at all. In fact you could get 2 ipod touches with double the capacity and have a little over 100 to buy accessories with.

Hell the ipad 3 32gb cellular support is cheaper by about ~150 than the unlock price on the iphone 5.

Frankly unless you are signing up for a new contract or upgrade (cutting the cost to match the ipod touch)the iphone 5 unlocked definitely NOT worth it. Yes you're still paying a bunch when you are locked into contract but it would be significantly more if you were to buy the unlocked iphone 5 and get cellular service later than it would to just get a contract in the first place.
 
It makes sense for me to buy an unlocked iPhone. I travel often out of the U.S. and it's cheaper for me to buy a local prepaid SIM in the country I'm in than to pay international roaming charges when I travel.
 
And the funny thing you dont have a guarentee of anything because its an imported phone :D And to correct myself the price I am saying is not for 64 GB i, its for 16 GB :D :D :D

This whole nano SIM on iPhone 5 is bullcrap if you ask me. I mean 3 years from now Apple could come up with pico SIM on iPhone whatever and renders previous iPhone obsolete.

WTF with that? Does saving a bit mm^2 from SIM is really that important? Thinner and more powerful Android phones can still even use mini SIM, let alone micro.
I don't buy Apple's excuse for precision engineering and space saving benefit from nano SIM over micro.
 
This whole nano SIM on iPhone 5 is bullcrap if you ask me. I mean 3 years from now Apple could come up with pico SIM on iPhone whatever and renders previous iPhone obsolete.

WTF with that? Does saving a bit mm^2 from SIM is really that important? Thinner and more powerful Android phones can still even use mini SIM, let alone micro.
I don't buy Apple's excuse for precision engineering and space saving benefit from nano SIM over micro.


If you ask me I think the nano sim is just a nonsense as well but maybe there is something they know that we dont :D But I know that I cant use the phone at least for more than 3-4 months :(

Maybe the nano-sim is something to do with LTE ? I dont know.Maybe getting some space inside the machine for other stuff ? I dont know
 
If you ask me I think the nano sim is just a nonsense as well but maybe there is something they know that we dont :D But I know that I cant use the phone at least for more than 3-4 months :(

Maybe the nano-sim is something to do with LTE ? I dont know.Maybe getting some space inside the machine for other stuff ? I dont know

I don't think so .. lots of LTE android phones still use the same mini SIM. Well yes, some claims LTE SIMs could be different, but making it nano is not one of them. Remember the new iPad + cellular is using LTE (despite only for US&Canada) radio yet still use micro SIM instead.

It's just another Apple BS to make their phone thinner.
 
People are saying here that they wouldn't like to pay so much money on a phone. People, wake up, you pay even more than $968 through your ridiculously expensive contracts with AT&T/Verizon/Sprint. Unlimited text, call, and text costs 50% less in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, comparing to the US.
 
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