I'm not sure how you feel ripped off from last years iPhone Forever deal. We actually had a ton of discounts that made the entire thing work strongly in our favor.
- No downpayment
- $7/mo Discount (until your first upgrade)
- 22-mo Lease (more months = lower monthly payments)
- Discounted Base Price ($191 Buyout is subtracted from calculated monthly payment)
- "Qualifying Phone Trade In" (Most traded in $30 prepaid Android phones for $250 credit)
- Perfectly timed in that the 2yr contract ends right in time for the 10th anniversary iPhone
For me it was $23/mo for 11 months so my entire year cost was $250 for a top tier 6S+ 128GB (retail $850). Thats less than the phone actually depreciated. And as year 1 ended then I was given 3 choices:
1) Continue Lease Agreement - That means another 11mo of payments at $23/mo
2) Buy Out the iPhone - I'd have to pay $425 (Remaining balance + $191 buyout)
3) Trade In and Upgrade - So I would trade in my phone, close the Lease Agreement and start a new one with new terms, a higher retail price, a $100 downpayment, no exaggerated trade in credit and no discounts.
If you look at the options that all iPhone Forever users were given then clearly Option 3 is the worst choice. We are forfeiting so much and for what? A more expensive lease for a minimally better phone that comes in a shiny new color that we're too afraid to use without a case covering it?
To me, Sprint offered a fantastic deal last year on a very very capable phone and it would be really smart to have stuck with it for 2 years. But apparently, I'm not that smart.
(BTW. We actually are trading in two phones. Our 7+ Rose Gold showed up at launch so Sprint fulfilled just fine. It sucks that our Jet Black still isn't here but we knew the risks when we chose it.)
