Apple Simplifies 'Trade Up With Installments' iPhone Program by Relying on Carrier Financing Plans

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

200+ posts re: why this is terrible.

All Mac Rumors is at this point is complaints. Every single thing they post is met with complaints about Apple and everything else under the sun.
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I always find it interesting that Apple and retailers offer a significantly "dumb" price for trade-ins. Normally their offer is 1/3 of what people can sell their old device on ebay/craigslist.

So my question: why would they even bother with such a program knowing majority people will sell on ebay/craigslist for a much better price?

Because there are TONS of people that will take the simple trade in rather than dealing with listing it on eBay or selling it locally and dealing with meeting up with someone and having them badger you on price, ultimately getting not much more than Apple is offering you. I know my own time is worth far more than dealing with all that for a few bucks more.

Apple recycled $40 million worth of gold from iPhones last year. Obviously a LOT of people are more than happy to trade in their phones to Apple.

Phones are disposable devices at this point. Most are surprised to get anything for their used phones and aren't going to waste the time searching for a better deal that may get them a couple extra dollars for their device.

A dealership will always pay you less for your car trade in, yet most choose to go that route rather than taking the time to sell it themselves.

 

[sme3750]

it actually includes AppleCare+ so not that bad

Apple today made some changes to its recently introduced "Trade Up With Installments" payment plan, which is designed to let prospective customers trade in an old iPhone, Android, or Windows Phone, putting the value of the device towards a new 24-month iPhone installment plan.

Previously, Apple's Trade Up program relied on a 24-month installment loan from Apple partner Citizens Bank, but Apple is simplifying the service and instead relying on financing plans handled by carriers. Trading in a device at the Apple Store will now allow the value of the device to be applied to the purchase of a new iPhone from a carrier. Credits can be used to lower the cost of an outright purchase or to reduce monthly payments.

It is no longer necessary to undergo a credit check to trade in a device, nor do customers have to agree to a 24-month installment loan or minimum financing. Going through carrier financing does mean iPhones purchased through the program will be locked to the carrier a customer chooses, while phones previously available through Trade-In were unlocked.

Old wording:New wording:With the changes comes an update to the site explaining the program, with new wording that calls it "Trade Up" instead of "Trade In" and new maximum trade-in values of $250 instead of $300. Apple has also removed all of the information on monthly payments based on trade-in, as pricing will now vary by carrier and trade-in value.

The program is otherwise unchanged, continuing to offer customers a way to apply the value of old devices to a new purchase. Estimated trade-in values, which are based on phone quality, range from $50 for the iPhone 4s to $250 for the iPhone 6 Plus. Customers are also still able to trade in other eligible smartphones from companies like Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, and LG, with all trade-ins done through Apple partner Brightstar.

Apple also continues to offer its dedicated iPhone Upgrade Program, which remains unchanged. With the iPhone Upgrade Program, customers can purchase an iPhone through Apple and trade it in each year for a new device.

Article Link: Apple Simplifies 'Trade Up With Installments' iPhone Program by Relying on Carrier Financing Plans

I not sure why anyone would trade there iPhone in with Apple or a carrier. There trade in values are garbage. Your basically giving them your iPhone so they can make a profit on it. You should just buy the new iPhone out right and then sell your old iPhone on eBay for two times what Apple or a carrier will give you and have no monthly payment.

 

[electrovir]

I still see more iPhone 5s's (including me) around than any other model of iPhone.

 

[ThaRuler]

How much will Apple give me for my 5S 32gb? And how much can I sell it for on a site like Swappa?

 

[millerlite]

Because it's easy. I don't want to have to deal with Ebay or Craigslist and open myself up to fraud, etc. My time is worth more than the additional cash I would get...

I just checked my iPhone 6+ and Gazelle is only offering $215 compared to $250 from Apple... so Apple is right in line with what other "easy" places are doing...

Someone mentioned Swappa which shows a $390-485 price range. Take a look

 

[rdlink]

I'll pass. I'm seriously at the point were the cost is now prohibitive for me to have the latest "smart phone" looks like it's cheap droids for me or maybe a cheaper version of the iPhone. and I make very good money. $2000 a year for a phone is just crazy..

I still don't understand that position. The monthly cost of a new phone with installments is no more than it ever was with "subsidized" phones. It's just semantics, and where the costs show up in the bill. Before the costs were bundled into the data/voice plan. Now they're just a separate line item for the hardware.

Now, I truly agree with an argument that says they were too expensive to upgrade every year, even with the "subsidies." Still didn't stop me from doing it... ;-)

 

[gugy]

Man, if you can live without the latest and greatest you should be just fine. My iPhone 5S is working just fine. Sure I want a larger screen but I seriously rather wait and milk my current iPhone as much as I can. I used to do the 2 year update cycle, but 3 years seems more than reasonable.

 

[CarpalMac]

Good point, but sometimes I'd rather expedite the process than deal with eBayidiot123 with 0 feedback trolling my auction for a few weeks.

It's worse than that. Thanks to the way eBay now blindly always sides with the buyer, it's not even a guaranteed financial benefit.

I sold my iPhone 4 and the buyer wanted a refund as it couldn't update to the very latest iOS version. Through no fault of my own eBay sided with him and when returned, the cretin had also managed to damage the display.

Like trading in a car, I'll take the the initial financial hit to save me the grief and possible future losses. All the better if it takes money out ebays dirty, slimy pockets.

 

[Nunyabinez]

Am I the only one who's completely lost about how to get a new phone? I could get behind the days of just trading in your old phone with a new two year contract. With these new schemes to get a phone, I get the feeling that it's just another way for the phone companies to scam us out of our money. They're also much more confusing. I'm certain this is one of the reasons for fewer phone sales. They've put roadblocks in place that didn't appear to be there in the old way of doing business.

I disagree. Now it is much more transparent. I am on AT&T's next. I bought my wife and myself each a phone. We pay the retail price of the phone with no interest spread out over 18 months. At 12 months, I can send them back to AT&T and get new phones, restarting the 18 month clock. If I want to keep the phone I finish all 18 of the payments and it's mine.

They treat the phone for service billing just like I owned it outright. So for example, when I add my wife's phone to my plan it is $15 per month plus fees. Before with 2 year contracts, I could end up out of contract, but still paying the contract fee.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I miss those 2 year contracts....

Me too. Wouldn't be so bad if my monthly service charge went down with the elimination of two year contracts.

The contract was just a piece of paper... an agreement.

The other element was the price of the phone divided into 24 monthly payments.

Remember when you used to only pay $199 for an iPhone on contract? Well... the other $450 was included in your bill each month. You were actually paying for the phone the entire time!

And not much has changed today.

Instead of "contracts and subsidies" you now have "payment plans"

Same idea... different implementation.

They may have eliminated contracts... but you still have to pay for the phone. That part hasn't changed. It's just a different way of paying for the phone each month like you always did.

 

[RedOrchestra]

I still see more iPhone 5s's (including me) around than any other model of iPhone.

Which continues to show why U.S. merchants are slow, slow, slow to adopt contactless POS terminals to support Apple Pay.

 

[DotCom2]

This is great news for me because I wanted to buy my iPhone through Apple Upgrade Program but I don't need/want the AppleCare. So I was going to have to buy through AT&T. Now I can buy through Apple but go through ATT's Next Program and not have to pay for AC. YAY!

 

[keysofanxiety]

Good point, but sometimes I'd rather expedite the process than deal with eBayidiot123 with 0 feedback trolling my auction for a few weeks.

Ah man, I know your pain. I got burned by eBayidiot456.

 

[Rogifan]

I always find it interesting that Apple and retailers offer a significantly "dumb" price for trade-ins. Normally their offer is 1/3 of what people can sell their old device on ebay/craigslist.

So my question: why would they even bother with such a program knowing majority people will sell on ebay/craigslist for a much better price?

Convenience. A lot of people will do whatever is easiest even if it means less money.

 

[Codyak]

I'll pass. I'm seriously at the point were the cost is now prohibitive for me to have the latest "smart phone" looks like it's cheap droids for me or maybe a cheaper version of the iPhone. and I make very good money. $2000 a year for a phone is just crazy..

Although I wasn't spending quite that much, when my 5S finally died I just couldn't justify literally twice the price for a new phone over a Nexus 6P. I miss Apple's "feel" if that makes any sense, but I am enjoying the customization quite a bit.

 

[Jakexb]

Let's say they get everyone on these yearly trade-up phone plans.
What are they going to do with all these used phones?

 

[chiefsilverback]

I always find it interesting that Apple and retailers offer a significantly "dumb" price for trade-ins. Normally their offer is 1/3 of what people can sell their old device on ebay/craigslist.

So my question: why would they even bother with such a program knowing majority people will sell on ebay/craigslist for a much better price?

For a lot of people it probably comes down to cash flow. They can't afford to buy the new phone before they sell the old one and they don't want to go without a phone, so trading in is the way to go.

It's the same with cars, you can get a better price selling privately but to do that you either need to sell first, get the cash to put towards the new car and then go shopping, or have the cash available to buy the new car and then replenish it with the proceeds from the sale...

 

[Karma*Police]

I'll pass. I'm seriously at the point were the cost is now prohibitive for me to have the latest "smart phone" looks like it's cheap droids for me or maybe a cheaper version of the iPhone. and I make very good money. $2000 a year for a phone is just crazy..

It is, when you put it that way. But the bulk of that cost is the data plan. iPhones are relatively cheap, especially if you hold onto it for several years.

Unless, you're talking about getting smartphones for the entire family, in which case I would recommend staggering it so that the kids get hand me downs until they can afford their own phones.

 

[NewdestinyX]

The contract was just a piece of paper... an agreement.

The other element was the price of the phone divided into 24 monthly payments.

Remember when you only paid $199 for the iPhone? Well... the other $450 was included in your bill each month. You were actually paying for the phone the entire time!

So not much has changed today.

Instead of "contracts and subsidies" you now have "payment plans"

Same idea... different implementation.

They may have eliminated contracts... but you still have to pay for the phone. That part hasn't changed. It's just a different way of paying for the phone each month.

ive heard this argument 100 times and you and I must have had different 6th grade math. What I paid out of pocket under 2year contract was waaaaaaay less per year than what I have to pay on NEXT. I've never understood the fuzzy math from the folks who believe like u do. But I've run the numbers in 30 posts over the years. So bored. Not gonna do it again..

But for those watching.. I assure you.. It is NOT true that you paid the same on 2 year just in a different part of the bill. Total nonsense. You paid waaaay less with subsidy contracts.

 

[mdw1]

I miss those 2 year contracts....

I'm still using the 2 year contract I bought the 6S in December on it with Verizon I paid $1 for it at BestBuy.

 

[NachoGrande]

I still don't understand that position. The monthly cost of a new phone with installments is no more than it ever was with "subsidized" phones. It's just semantics, and where the costs show up in the bill. Before the costs were bundled into the data/voice plan. Now they're just a separate line item for the hardware.

Now, I truly agree with an argument that says they were too expensive to upgrade every year, even with the "subsidies." Still didn't stop me from doing it... ;-)

My bill has never gone down even tough they no longer subsidize. It was nice to be able to hand my phone off to my kids when I was done with it. Now I can't. So 32 per person in my house plus the plan cost is just not justifiable to me anymore.

I really only use my phone for pictures,internet when I need to look up a "fact".
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It is, when you put it that way. But the bulk of that cost is the data plan. iPhones are relatively cheap, especially if you hold onto it for several years.

Unless, you're talking about getting smartphones for the entire family, in which case I would recommend staggering it so that the kids get hand me downs until they can afford their own phones.

That's the problem I can no longer stagger my phones and give them to my family members. Now it's 32 per person. or 128 a mont for phone, plus the plan?? That's 3,300 for a family of 4.. This trend can't last. Prices have to come down on all sides

 

[rdlink]

My bill has never gone down even tough they no longer subsidize. It was nice to be able to hand my phone off to my kids when I was done with it. Now I can't. So 32 per person in my house plus the plan cost is just not justifiable to me anymore.

I really only use my phone for pictures,internet when I need to look up a "fact".

Then your carrier is royally screwing you. The price of both of my data access plans went down $25 a month when I went off contract on one, and moved to a non-subsidized phone on the other.

 

[NachoGrande]

Then your carrier is royally screwing you. The price of both of my data access plans went down $25 a month when I went off contract on one, and moved to a non-subsidized phone on the other.

I'm grandfathered in on unlimited data and $5 text messages. My plan went up $5 last year

$155 for 2 phones 1 unlimited data one 2gb data.

 

[friedmud]

Someone mentioned Swappa which shows a $390-485 price range. Take a look

Swappa is still human-to-human like Ebay or Craigslist... just a little more focused and with a few more statements about fraud and verifying listings...

Nothing is easier than going to the Apple store... handing them a phone and getting $250 off my current purchase of a new phone and then walking out...

 

[Karma*Police]

My bill has never gone down even tough they no longer subsidize. It was nice to be able to hand my phone off to my kids when I was done with it. Now I can't. So 32 per person in my house plus the plan cost is just not justifiable to me anymore.

I really only use my phone for pictures,internet when I need to look up a "fact".
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That's the problem I can no longer stagger my phones and give them to my family members. Now it's 32 per person. or 128 a mont for phone, plus the plan?? That's 3,300 for a family of 4.. This trend can't last. Prices have to come down on all sides

Why can't you stagger if you don't mind me asking? AFAIK, you can hold onto phones as long as you want and once it's paid off, the phone is yours to keep so your bill will come down after 2 years. Most kids can get by on 3 and 4 year old iPhones every year... Heck, so can adults.