Buying the 2011 iphone revision without being upgrade eligible?

[jlyanks85]

I know the next iphone isn't for another 7 months or so, but I was just thinking about this now.

I won't be upgrade eligible for it, and buying it from places like the apple store would require a 2 year contract.

So would I be able to sell my current iphone 4, and just buy a 5th iphone on ebay or one of those places selling the new iphone, for full price without any issues?

 

[Surely]

Yes.

You can also buy it from the Apple Store for full price. Doesn't matter if you're not upgrade eligible....

 

[aristobrat]

Like Surely said, buy it for full price ($599/$699) from Apple or Att. They won't make you sign a new contract if you buy at full price. eBay and Craigslist is usually more expensive than that right after a launch.

There's a chance you may be able to use an early upgrade ($399/$499). You'll be able to check your eligibility for that online closer to launch time.

 

[jlyanks85]

I bought the iphone 4 in July. So most likely I wouldn't be upgrade eligible until sometime in 2012, unless at&t gives me a break, which I doubt.

 

[WRIGHTRACING]

Like Surely said, buy it for full price ($599/$699) from Apple or Att. They won't make you sign a new contract if you buy at full price. eBay and Craigslist is usually more expensive than that right after a launch.

There's a chance you may be able to use an early upgrade ($399/$499). You'll be able to check your eligibility for that online closer to launch time.

When they released the i4 they allowed for early upgrades regardless of where you were in your contract. Maybe they will do this again this year.

 

[jlyanks85]

When they released the i4 they allowed for early upgrades regardless of where you were in your contract. Maybe they will do this again this year.[/QUOTE

I had this thought in my head the other day. Since alot of early iphone 4 adopters had plenty of issues with their phone, that maybe apple would give them a break and reward them a early upgrade to get the 5th iphone.

 

[aristobrat]

I bought the iphone 4 in July. So most likely I wouldn't be upgrade eligible until sometime in 2012, unless at&t gives me a break, which I doubt.

There are different upgrades. After you're almost done with your two-year contract, you're usually eligible for a full-upgrade, where the iPhones are priced $199/$299.

If you're not at that point in your two-year contract, they'll usually let you do an early upgrade. Instead of $199/$299, you pay $399/$499. And you sign another two-year contract.

$399/$499 is a lot cheaper than the full-price of $599/$699!

 

[Rajani Isa]

When they released the i4 they allowed for early upgrades regardless of where you were in your contract. Maybe they will do this again this year.

Did they?

I know that if your contract ended in this year, they gave you the fully subsidized price back in June/July, but realize they did anything for the 2011+ contract end folks

 

[jlyanks85]

There are different upgrades. After you're almost done with your two-year contract, you're usually eligible for a full-upgrade, where the iPhones are priced $199/$299.

If you're not at that point in your two-year contract, they'll usually let you do an early upgrade. Instead of $199/$299, you pay $399/$499. And you sign another two-year contract.

$399/$499 is a lot cheaper than the full-price of $599/$699!

Yeah true, but I don't want to keep adding additional years to my at&t contract. Just in case it came to a point, I wanted to switch to another carrier.

Someone like me though, always has to have the latest and greatest tech. So when the new one is announced in June I know I'm going to want it lol.

 

[wingnut8]

Did they?

I know that if your contract ended in this year, they gave you the fully subsidized price back in June/July, but realize they did anything for the 2011+ contract end folks

I bought a 3GS on launch day in 2009 and that was the first time signing a contract with AT&T and I was bumped up to eligible for the iPhone 4 a couple weeks before the phone came out.

But on the other hand my friend who bought a 3GS off contract in August of 2009 wasn't eligible. I don't know why.

 

[RetiredInFl]

Yeah true, but I don't want to keep adding additional years to my at&t contract. Just in case it came to a point, I wanted to switch to another carrier.

Someone like me though, always has to have the latest and greatest tech. So when the new one is announced in June I know I'm going to want it lol.

For what you are going to pay for the "full priced" version you may as well take their upgrade option and pay the $350 ETF if you need to cancel. Even with the ETF it may cost you LESS that way then full price depending on where you stand in your contract.

 

[jacollins]

When they released the i4 they allowed for early upgrades regardless of where you were in your contract. Maybe they will do this again this year.

Yeah, although the suspicion is that they did that because they expected to lose exclusivity in 2011, and wanted to make sure people were on contract through 2011. I doubt that they would extend the same offer again if they no longer had exclusivity.

 

[WRIGHTRACING]

Yeah, although the suspicion is that they did that because they expected to lose exclusivity in 2011, and wanted to make sure people were on contract through 2011. I doubt that they would extend the same offer again if they no longer had exclusivity.

Some say that it's 2011(4years) and some say 2012(5years)...

Guess next June/July we'll know. I'm buying the i4 next week(I know I'm behind).
I bought a 3G right after the 3Gs came out. I wasn't big into the hype then, until I had the phone for a few weeks. Then I knew what it was that made the phone so great. I lost it back in Nov. of last year. Kept my Unlimited plan for a little while in hopes that I'd come across a good deal. Canceled it and got back paid for the few months I kept it. i4 comes out and buddy @ATT store told me they were allowing this, and remembered selling me the 3G. I told him I lost it. He said that's fine as long as I never reported it and dropped the data plan...Great to find out then...LOL. Then a few months ago I came across another 3G with a broke glass for $40, and a replacement glass online for $12. For $52 I got another iPhone, that I now can sell to cover the i4 new contract price...