iPhone 12 Starts at $799 With T-Mobile and Sprint Activation After All, SIM-Free Model Still Starts at $829
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Taz Mangus
macrumors 604
T-Mobile has always bring great for me and I have been with them for about 10 years now. There deals have always been great for me. I don’t remember the last time I was even tied to a 2 year contract with T-Mobile. They even have waived the activation and sim fees for me. This year T-Mobile is running a really good deal for 12 preorders. They are going to give me $415 for my 5 year old iPhone 6S+. I originally paid $675 for it. Pretty good only paying $260 for 5 years use.
Right now I am paying about $35/month per line for their unlimited plan which include Netflix HD. I have looked and there isn’t anything cheaper out there for unlimited plans that I could find, not that I would switch at this point anyways.
Sounds like you had a bad experience with T-Mobile as a customer?
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Le Big Mac
macrumors 68030
I think you have this backwards. TMo hasn't generally charged an upgrade fee. They charge a SIM fee, but you could switch that to another phone.
AT&T and Verizon charge an upgrade/activation fee. They cut a deal with Apple to discount the price of phones for them, which they would then claw back through their activation fee. So instead of looking like cheapskates at the end of the process, they could tell customers "hey, we gave you a $30 discount" (and then would take it away.
TMo saw this gambit and that Apple makes it look like TMo is costing more, and doesn't tlike that look. So I guess they decided to eat the fee Apple is charging ATT/Vz to get a "discounted price" and may or may not recoup it when you activate your phone with them.
I'd just stick my SIM in the new TMo phone and move along - I doubt they'd charge me.
Pre-ordered an iPhone 12, 256GB on T-Mobile's app this morning to take advantage of their promos ($300 off for trading in my iPhone 7 and $200 customer loyalty rebate) and didn't notice that apple had updated their website on pricing of T-Mobile phones. I circled back and chatted with a T-Mobile rep to ask about this and here's what he said:
T-Mobile Rep: "Apple has the same price as us, but the website is providing a $30 additional discount if you add a line through them. One other thing to note is that they only offer $100 trade-in value for the iPhone 7, and we offer $300 trade-in value. Not only that, but you also qualify to get an additional $200 off via virtual master card that you can submit online once you get the phone. You get a better value by doing the order with us."
Me: are there any activation fees or new sim fees for my new iPhone?
T-Mobile Rep (forgot to screengrab this so paraphrasing): "There are no sim activation fees for your new phone."
T-Mobile Rep: "Apple has the same price as us, but the website is providing a $30 additional discount if you add a line through them. One other thing to note is that they only offer $100 trade-in value for the iPhone 7, and we offer $300 trade-in value. Not only that, but you also qualify to get an additional $200 off via virtual master card that you can submit online once you get the phone. You get a better value by doing the order with us."
Me: are there any activation fees or new sim fees for my new iPhone?
T-Mobile Rep (forgot to screengrab this so paraphrasing): "There are no sim activation fees for your new phone."
The principal is only $1,000 at the beginning of the 2 year period. Each month the principal is reduced by 1/24 until the principal is $0. The average principal over the 24 month period is 12/24th of the original principal or $500.
oneMadRssn
macrumors 603
Agreed, but that doesn't matter for the calculation. You borrow $1000. Over the 2-year lifetime you pay back $1030. That's all you need to know.
When was Apple NOT in bed with carriers? Remember how the iPhone began life as an AT&T exclusive?
I prefer simple plans and no-obligation options. Without T-Mobile going contract-free before any of the other major carriers did, we'd still be playing the contract tie-in games and gimmicks with the carriers every time we buy a new phone. T-Mobile was the first national carrier to decouple the device purchase from the carrier plan. That's how I prefer to keep it. Buy the device SIM-free, and upgrade it when I'm ready. Switch plans when something better shows up. T-Mobile works well for customers like me.
T-Mobile pulling out of major retail stores was an outgrowth of them streamlining their plans. Carriers get aisle and endcap placement at retail stores because they pay spiffs to the retailers. It's a big racket. T-Mobile decided not to play that game anymore when they withdrew from the retail market a few years ago. Can still visit their company stores if you want to play the multiple devices/multiple lines/trade-in/bill credits game.
Not a fan of how the iPhone 12 now ties the device pricing to activation on T-Mobile's network. Since the iPhone 5s, the T-Mobile option has been synonymous with the SIM-free option. This is a step backwards.
I can't remember T-Mobile ever charging an activation or upgrade fee. I already have a SIM. Transfer it to a SIM-free iPhone, and it activates. Put the new phone next to my old one, and the data transfers over. Process couldn't be easier.
This seems more like Apple is now in on the same game that carriers like to play with their customers by charging fees, and then giving you "promo credits" to make it look like you're getting some kind of bargain.
Butttttt you could take the time and order online with out any extra charges ijs
BeABetterApple
Suspended
It helps AAPL shareholders and executives. Take away costs, and add more revenue! Great business strategy.
An432578
macrumors newbie
They also have to pay their employees that are working to upgrade someone. Also costs money to process the activations, paying all the employees that keep their computers and servers going. I think the upgrade fee is a lot more fair than people give it credit for..
Since when is $829 higher by $230 than $699?
MacBH928
macrumors G3
sure, if you can afford it. But a guy with 3 children, no way to upgrade yearly. $3,300 on upgrading your phones is ludicrous. Of course, you can sell your used iphone, I just don't know how much the difference will be. I know teenagers though like to upgrade yearly.
oneMadRssn
macrumors 603
I mean, sure, cost of doing business. All that should be covered by the monthly service fee. You make it sound like the telcos only make a profit with the upgrade fee, which is crazy.
From what I’ve understood, yes. Unless I’m wrong. I’d love to be proven wrong in this.
alexandr
macrumors 603
i guess i'll find out soon enough if i decide to upgrade my phone. i'm a bit sceptical, to be honest - even if they try to force something of this sort on me they will be comping it five minutes later and thanking/apologizing to me in the process. speaking from experience
The monthly service plan rates are supposed to cover all that overhead. But, the upgrade fees are part of the fine print that the plan providers have always included used to bait and switch consumers. Advertise a "free" phone with a "$25/line" rate, and then hit consumers with the flood of taxes, fees, trade-in allowance variations, complicated and conditional bill credits, and prepaid credit cards in lieu of actual money discounts that nickel and dime consumers into higher than expected upfront costs.
Not signing up for a four-line family plan? Pay more. Not trading in four iPhone 11s in mint condition? Pay more. Want faster or more data for tethering? Pay more. Add it all up, and it starts to become real money despite all the "savings" that the carriers promote.
That said, I can't remember ever getting charged an upgrade fee on T-Mobile. I just move the SIM card from one device to another, and it activated with no charge.
BuddyTronic
macrumors 68000
Yes, I hear you. I am a developer and executive and a lot of things and I can afford it for sure and I respect that not everyone can upgrade yearly because of the financial burden. Yet I still make the point that maybe the place to make cuts in your life is somewhere other than the thing you use day in and day out. We all depend on our iPhones every single day.
I often post here that "I use my iPhone almost every day". I use it for almost every waking hour of every day! That's my main point.
If you are putting in 5 or embarrassingly even more than 5 hours a day staring at an iPhone screen like I do it would make no sense to save a few hundred dollars. It's your life. It's your time spent on an iPhone. Might as well be a recent model.
Maybe there is a sweet spot - where you upgrade every 2 or 3 years, and you shop around with the carriers. I saw some user here say that it was $16.00 per month extra on his cellular plan to get a certain iPhone - well there you go I guess. I'm speaking mainly to the guys rocking an iPhone 6 in 2020. You are paying $1000 per year on cellular service, so why not upgrade to something more recent?
No shame to anyone using an older model iPhone - I'm just making a point about the hours you spend on an iPhone vs the hours spent on other things in life. You really needed a motorboat? Or fancy overcoat from Hugo Boss for example that you only wear for 2 months of the year? This kind of comparison thing.
A lot of it will come down to personal definitions of utility. Yes, I use my phone a lot for a variety of purposes. And I recently upgraded my daily driver from an iPhone 5s to an iPhone SE (2020).
For me, it boils down to whether I want to buy something new when what I have serves my purposes just fine. Part of the decision to upgrade came down to app support. Once a handful of apps began requiring iOS 13, then I knew that other apps I use and rely upon would soon start to follow suit.
Even then, I could have continued with the iOS 12-supported versions, since the underlying services will typically support older versions of their apps for a long time afterwards (e.g., the YouTube app on our iPad 3 still works, even though it's running iOS 9.3.6).
I actually wanted to keep the phone a while longer because I'm one of the holdouts that prefers the smaller phone size (I find the new SE to be larger than ideal). But, I also had a wonky Lightning port that started becoming less reliable for charging and data transfer (the phone had taken dunkings in both the ocean and a chlorinated pool). So, that forced the issue, since I wasn't sure if I could hold out long enough to confirm the rumors about the iPhone 12 mini. When the SE came out, it was larger than I'd like. But, I bought it because the SE had everything else that I prefer (including the face mask-friendly Touch ID) at a ridiculously low price for the longevity that it will offer up.
Generally, I prefer to keep the device purchase and service plan decisions separate. I don't like the timing of one to depend on the other. Had one phone for 6 1/2 years, but migrated through multiple plans during that time.
MacBH928
macrumors G3
You are right, but also when the new iteration doesn't really feel different why waste money upgrading? Sure its an improvement but is it a noticeable improvement?
coredev
macrumors 6502a
Math is just not for everyone ;-)
But you see what those businesses are doing with their x99 prices.
thx, I get it now
the SIM, upgrade or whatever fee they all call it is just a downpayment on the phone. unlike T-mobile which charges real down payments