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Apple's Upgrade Program Now Available for iPhones Purchased Through Online Store
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Yes the plan is cheaper when not getting a subsidized phone. About $25 a month from most carriers. Subsidized just made it so that you had a hard time upgrading early or switching carriers.
I'm the carriers offer free iPhone on contract at launch based on your monthly bill.
In your country it may be the case you pay for the phone up front, in the UK all phone contracts offer subsidised handsets and many are free on contract including iPhones if you have a higher tariff, Apple force providers to charge premiums at lower tariffs but the iPhones are still heavily discounted.
I also don't think many people these day's want to change their phones every year either. They see them as doing all they want so will keep them for 2 years or so.
You can also trade your old phones in in the UK against new ones with the carriers.
It seems in the UK we still get much better system and deals for phones then the US and Apple's new warranty system would fail here as it doesn't match what we already have or the market or people's expectations.
It's because T-Mobile requires them to use their own system to validate accounts. I had a huge problem getting this to work with my account due to someone capping lines at 10 numbers and even then it was using cancelled lines that were place holders from transferring over from Verizon. I had to have T-Mobile set me up a dummy account to get this done in an Apple store.
True but in order to get the latest iPhone for "free" you have to pay a monthly bill of around £48-£55 for the iPhone 6S Plus (depending on the carrier) times that over 24 months and it works out at far more than you would pay for the iPhone outright directly from Apple's website. This is why I'm on pay as you go and buy my iPhone's outright.
Right in the US which is only where this Upgrade Plan is available. So all responses are really only relevant to the US. If this makes sense in other countries is a totally different discussion.
But what you say in the UK is mostly true in the US too. We can trade our phones with carries for upgrades too, but the value they give you is almost always considerably less than you could get on the open market. However, most non-techy people don't bother trying to get a better price out of convenience or ignorance.
No it isn't. I can go to ATT right now and my plan will not drop a penny with a non-subsidized phone. The plan stays exactly the same price, but there is no longer an option to subsidize the phone.
Purchasing a new unsubsidized phone nets me the same exact plan cost as if I was on contract, except now I'm paying full price for the phone.
There is no cost savings. My coworker on Verizon found the same to be true for him.
Well you are just wrong. I am on Verizon and subsidized would have been $40 a month for the line, $15 for unsubsidized. Data charges are totally separate and yes that is the same either way.
If you already paid off your phone (either in full or by being on the subsidized plan for 24 months) then they should have already dropped the line charges down to the lower price, then yes buying another full price phone would not drop you any further because you are already paying the lower price.
Most likely because there's less money involved, and it doesn't help Apple's bottom line as much. $399 over 2 years is only ~$16/month, and only moves a $399 product instead of a $649 one. And at the end of a year, you're only upgrading to another $399 product. My guess is, if Apple is going to finance you for free, they're going to want to get as much out of you possible, not to mention the greater a customers need to finance the more expensive the product is. It's not in their best interest to keep you "upgrading" to the least expensive iPhone they sell.
Also, the SE is possibly a unique product. There may not be another iPhone that replaces it at that price point, something which the upgrade plan seems to count on. I suppose monthly payments could be adjusted for the new iPhone's price, when you turn in the old one, but then there's the problem of how little money the SE brings in.
True. But in the US it does not matter how high your monthly tariff you will still pay for the handset. If your bill is $70 or $150 you still pay the same price.
FWIW, people who are still on those old, grandfathered plans (that haven't been available for years) don't see any reduction in their monthly cost when their contract is up.
What you say is how it works on the carriers' newer "Share" plans, but doesn't apply to those still hanging on to their old old plans.
Correct I concede that basically on those plans if you don't upgrade every 2 years (and sell the old phone) then you are screwing yourself.
Great, you quoted the generic boilerplate that Apple appears to have written to cover any issuer they use.
AFAIK, everyone who did the Apple Upgrade program got their loan issued through Citizen's One.
Below is the specific Federal Truth in Lending Disclosure for that loan.
Notice that there is no applicable interest on unpaid balances or late payments. There isn't even a charge for late payments.
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The interest rate on this and on the carrier based programs is 0%. The way it works is you pay taxes up front that pay x number of months until the rest of the phone is paid for, no interest charged. So when you say "ludicrous interest rates", are you saying that it is ludicrous that Apple and the carriers charge no interest? How exactly does it not benefit me when I can finance for 0% for 2 years and hang on to my money? Oh and if I do feel like paying it off, I can (and often do).
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Yes but your balance goes back up to the original amount. So if you trade in after 12 months, your current phone is paid for by it's trade in value then assuming you get the same new phone you just keep paying the same rate. For myself, I usually keep mine for two years anyway so usually at some point during the first year I pay mine off.
Or do whatever the H*** you want to do with your time and money, perhaps? I work in tech. I enjoy tech. Tech is a hobby of mine. What business is it of yours or anyone else's if I want to have a new phone every year?
Except that at the end of the loan, you own the phone fair-and-square, and you don't have to give it back to anyone. You can keep on using it, give it to one of your kids, sell it on Swappa, keep it as a spare, whatever.
I've never heard of an automotive lease that ends like that.
I think I got you wrong. I thought that you have a problem with selling your outdated stuff. The idea was to ease your yearly pain. Of course I don't want to tell you what to do - I apologize if I offended you (I mean it).
No I'm not. Just for the sake of this thread I, who am eligible for upgrade just checked ATT again and my bill (which is not using a grandfathered plan) would be the same price if I bought my own phone (so $800 out of pocket), or either $35 or $48 *more* per month to tack the price onto my bill (depending on how much I put down up front).
So again, these plans do not save anyone any money.