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iPhone 5 or earlier Do you feel you’re paying less for the phone on the Upgrade Program instead of buying?

A

AppleHaterLover

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Jun 15, 2018
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Honest question.

Everything Apple is now in installments. (iPhone! $50 per month, plus AppleCare is $4 per month, 256GB is another $10 etc.)

My opinion is that this crap is what’s making people agree to paying these heinous prices (ooh, it’s $10 more per month so I’ll take it). this is making people believe their buying power is increasing when in reality thr truth is the opposite.
 
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I agree. Only having to pay off half of the loan to upgrade & not having to shell out for the full price of AppleCare+ make me feel like I’m saving money even if I’m really not. My brain knows that I took out a loan for the whole amount, but it’s still comforting not having to see the total price destroy my wallet all at once.
 
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I think once 5G is out, people will buy a phone and keep it longer. If 5g comes out in 2 years, everyone will be inclined to upgrade no matter how good the previous phone was. Once we’re on 5g, I think upgrades might go down. At least that’s what I’m waiting for.
 
AppleHaterLover said:
Honest question.

Everything Apple is now in installments. (iPhone! $50 per month, plus AppleCare is $4 per month, 256GB is another $10 etc.)

My opinion is that this crap is what’s making people agree to paying these heinous prices (ooh, it’s $10 more per month so I’ll take it). this is making people believe their buying power is increasing when in reality thr truth is the opposite.
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you're actually paying a bit more but without the hassle of selling your phone. you get about what'd you'd get I think from a trade in minus tax.
 
No way that it is less but really is the same as purchasing outright except for the AppleCare requirement which most get anyway.
 
Wags said:
Interest free loan that you don’t have to upgrade after one year. You can pay off and sell it just like owning. Don’t have to trade in.
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Agree, but it seems like most people have no plans to get off the yearly upgrade train. No problem here. I have always bought the new galaxy phone and sold it when the new one came. Upgrade program is new to me.
 
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Wags said:
Interest free loan that you don’t have to upgrade after one year. You can pay off and sell it just like owning. Don’t have to trade in.
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Interest-free, yeah, but if you live in a state with a sales tax you’re paying that as an additional cost each year. It’s not with additional cost, whether it gets labeled interest or not.
 
gadgetfreaky said:
you're actually paying a bit more but without the hassle of selling your phone. you get about what'd you'd get I think from a trade in minus tax.
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Don’t underestimate the value of not having to sell your phone every year. I got so sick of selling gadgets online after a few years; I hate dealing with all the ******** involved. If I can trade in my used phone for 50% of its value, it’s worth that 5-10% difference for not having to sell it on my own.
 
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I’m done with selling phones. Verizon gives me the money for 0% interest and I don’t have to worry about scratches or dings as I’ll get a new one in a year. Plus if I do decide to keep the phone, I can just pay the rest off and costs no more than if I purchased to phone outright in the first place.
 
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The key thing for me in the upgrade programs is we’re comparing it with buying it outright for a large sum of money.

Yes the upgrade program is good for Apple as it includes AppleCare and more so if you upgrade after a year.

If we compare it to a network contract, it’s much better for the consumer to go with the upgrade program as the networks charge even more for the early upgrades.
 
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ZombiePete said:
That has nothing to do with the financing program though. This would be true whether you financed it or not.
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Except that the subject of the thread is the Upgrade Program which very typically involves an annual payment of sales tax. If someone isn’t doing that, why are they in the Upgrade Program?
 
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ZombiePete said:
That has nothing to do with the financing program though. This would be true whether you financed it or not.
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I don’t see the XS or Max on swappa.
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Give it a week or 2. Plenty of people will be selling theirs if they can’t make a big profit selling it day 1 to people who didn’t get one.
 
Deguello said:
Except that the subject of the thread is the Upgrade Program which very typically involves an annual payment of sales tax. If someone isn’t doing that, why are they in the Upgrade Program?
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The subject of the thread is whether or not the Upgrade Program is encouraging Apple to charge more because people can justify the higher retail prices since they’re paying in installments. You don’t have to upgrade yearly on the program; my wife is probably not upgrading her X this year. In that case, it’s just an interest free loan for the phone, and no different from buying outright except that I got a free loan to do it instead of paying $1100 up front.

No harm no foul, I say. I’d be buying these for myself every year anyway; the iUP just reduces the hassle for me.
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tonybarnaby said:
Give it a week or 2. Plenty of people will be selling theirs if they can’t make a big profit selling it day 1 to people who didn’t get one.
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Fair enough. I’m not interested in waiting to buy it from some failed price gouger on swappa, though. In my case of course that’s doubly true since I am in the iUP.
 
ZombiePete said:
The subject of the thread is whether or not the Upgrade Program is encouraging Apple to charge more because people can justify the higher retail prices since they’re paying in installments. You don’t have to upgrade yearly on the program; my wife is probably not upgrading her X this year. In that case, it’s just an interest free loan for the phone, and no different from buying outright except that I got a free loan to do it instead of paying $1100 up front.

No harm no foul, I say. I’d be buying these for myself every year anyway; the iUP just reduces the hassle for me.
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Fair enough. I’m not interested in waiting to buy it from some failed price gouger on swappa, though. In my case of course that’s doubly true since I am in the iUP.
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And people do feel like they’re paying less, even though they’re paying a sales tax “premium” every year.

Yes, if you don’t upgrade every year, it comes out the same as an outright purchase.
 
Deguello said:
And people do feel like they’re paying less, even though they’re paying a sales tax “premium” every year.

Yes, if you don’t upgrade every year, it comes out the same as an outright purchase.
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I just think your point is odd; of course you’re going to pay sales tax if you buy a new product every year, regardless of whether it’s not on an installment plan or not.

If you’re buying every year then you do end up paying less than the retail price for the device, not taking into account the potential losses of not selling the phone yourself.
 
Deguello said:
And people do feel like they’re paying less, even though they’re paying a sales tax “premium” every year.

Yes, if you don’t upgrade every year, it comes out the same as an outright purchase.
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I guess you assume everyone buys AppleCare+ since that's baked into the IUP. I've never had AppleCare on any of my 10 iPhones. Don't have it on my iPhone X that was also bought outright. So there is a difference.
 
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