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Not expecting trade in values to be good as usual. Probably better off selling it yourself. There are people who don't like dealing with reselling though so I can see people using this.
 
I think mindshare is no longer -"oh, a new phone is out I better get it."

It is now, "I cracked my screen" or "my earpiece no longer works".
Or, "It's just too damn slow!!"
[doublepost=1455868173][/doublepost]When you trade in, will they have phones to buy from prepaid carriers like Boost also?
 
The same people that were "spending" every time they put $199 down and signed a 2-year contract (and made 24 monthly payments to their wireless company to pay off the phone) every time they got a new phone?

That's been going on since smartphones came out in the early 2000s.

IMO, there's nothing new here, other than the $199 down barrier being gone, and people who don't buy a new phone every two years will actually pay less per month, for the first time ever (on most carriers).

Meanwhile, anyone wanting a new phone will pay monthly for it, just like they did back in the 2-year contract days.

there is a BIG difference. with 2-year contract, AT&T subsidize your phone with $400. and you don't have a choice since it is built into the plan. Everyone need phone plan. so if you don't upgrade your phone every 2 years, you lose that $400.

with these new loans, you save money by keeping your old phone longer.
 
The same people that were "spending" every time they put $199 down and signed a 2-year contract (and made 24 monthly payments to their wireless company to pay off the phone) every time they got a new phone?

That's been going on since smartphones came out in the early 2000s.

IMO, there's nothing new here, other than the $199 down barrier being gone, and people who don't buy a new phone every two years will actually pay less per month, for the first time ever (on most carriers).

Meanwhile, anyone wanting a new phone will pay monthly for it, just like they did back in the 2-year contract days.

Here's the thing, though. Even though the phones are no longer subsidized, our monthly bills didn't go down. In fact for many people they went up. When I moved to a mobile share plan from the previous (subsidized) plan, my bill actually went up by a few dollars. I only moved to the plan so I could add an iPad to it, which then made the cost lower than it would be if I had a separate plan for both devices.

So it's not like we're paying a lot less each month for our plans, and yet the phone subsidy is gone.
 
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A few post ago, @normanfox made the statement 'all of these loans are to fool alot of naive people into spending.'

My response was to that.

I think people buy phones when they buy phones, and I don't think the fact that 2-year subsidizes have been replaced by these 0% APR loans is going to "fool" anyone (naive or not) into spending any more for phones now than they were spending for phones six years ago (when these 0% APR loans didn't exist).
 
A few post ago, @normanfox made the statement 'all of these loans are to fool alot of naive people into spending.'

My response was to that.

I think people buy phones when they buy phones, and I don't think the fact that 2-year subsidizes have been replaced by these 0% APR loans is going to "fool" anyone (naive or not) into spending any more for phones now than they were spending for phones six years ago (when these 0% APR loans didn't exist).

so say that this loan is not different than the old 2-year subsidized plan is ignoring the fact. for the past 6 years, I upgraded to new iphone even though my old one worked just fine. I upgraded because I don't have a choice. AT&T built phone price into the plan which I need.

Now that the subsidized plan is gone. I will no longer upgrade every two years. I'll keep using my old phone longer, like my PC, car, TV, etc.
 
I just don't understand the background to your point 'all of these loans are to fool alot of naive people into spending'.

How are these loans (like Apple's new Trade Up program) going to fool people into doing that?
 
Why make a cheaper phone when you can just make a loan?

How much lower than $231 (of parts) can they get to keep the ~75% profit margin going?! Eventually the cost has to be consumed by the customer. Can't reduce wages forever to compensate or else one won't have customers to buy this disposable anymore either, especially if one wants to keep the huge profit margin - unless those at the top took a hit to help lower costs too?

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/10/how-much-does-it-cost-apple-to-build-an-iphone-6s/
 
How much lower than $231 (of parts) can they get to keep the ~75% profit margin going?! Eventually the cost has to be consumed by the customer. Can't reduce wages forever to compensate or else one won't have customers to buy this disposable anymore either, especially if one wants to keep the huge profit margin - unless those at the top took a hit to help lower costs too?

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2015/10/how-much-does-it-cost-apple-to-build-an-iphone-6s/
You did catch my mistake. Why sell a cheaper phone with a lower MSRP? The BOM is one thing but the retail price is another story.

I can not even get last year's iPhone for a reasonable price due to the efforts placed in the illusion of value. I had to get a Nexus 6 and the iPhone 5C never had a chance. Good luck getting those next billion users.
 
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They buy my phone to destroy it? Interesting business model. I don't think it has $100 worth of material in it.

I always thought they sell it as a used phone somewhere else in the world
It depends on the condition. If it's in good condition they re-sell it. If not, they trash (recycle) it.
 
I live in the largest city in Kansas, over 400k metro population, there is no Apple store closer than 100 miles; why can't I have the upgrade plan? This is a crummy thing to do to people who are not remotely close to a store. Vet my address and give me the offer online.

Apple Guru OG
 
I just don't understand the background to your point 'all of these loans are to fool alot of naive people into spending'.

How are these loans (like Apple's new Trade Up program) going to fool people into doing that?

A lot of people are into spending is dang right. They are after something new every year just to satisfy themselves.
 
LOL... Apple is in despair after near zero growth on iPhone's sale. LOL... Apple really need sell their stockpile of iPhone.
 
My ATT installment for iPhone 6S plus is $35.42 without a trade in. So an iPhone 4 trade in could have saved me $.05 per month. ?
What's the time period for it? AT&T often quotes the monthly cost for 30 months, while Apple seems to quote for 24 months. If that's the case here you may only be saving 5 cents per month, but you're paying over 6 fewer months, which comes out to a bit over $200 at the price you quoted.

At least I assume that's how it works. I just started looking into this, and looking at price on both the Apple and AT&T sites.
 
So, not interested in purchasing a new Apple product immediately but would like to take advantage of this credit. Im looking to trade in my 5s to receive the $200 Apple GC. When you go through Apple's website they redirect to brightstar's website. Just interested in some feedback, has anyone used them before ? My phone is in good condition, minus the power sleep/wake button not clicking but 100% functional. They quote $50 or $200, just curious what you guys think? And what your experiences with them have been?

Thanks!
 
It appears that this offer is already declining. When I ran a test entry on a 16GB 4S back on Feb 19, Brightstar indicated a value of $100. In fact, that's still what the Apple Trade-In page provides as an estimate. However, when I tested it today with the same parameters, Brightstar is now only offering $50 for the same phone. I wouldn't be surprised if that drops even farther once the SE is introduced.
 
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