Carrier iPhone Every Year T-Mobile

[Haxley]

Last year, Apple debuted their iPhone Upgrade program in which you pay a flat monthly fee and get a new iPhone every year and all the carriers followed suit. It was my understanding that you would only pay a monthly fee, and wouldn't have any extra payments, namely down payments. So my questions are as follows:

1. Does Apple's iPhone Upgrade program require you to pay a down payment on a new phone or do they just keep charging you the same monthly fee (for your tier) when you trade-in?
2. Do carriers have the same type of program? (No-large down payments nor paying off old phone)
3. I bought into T-Mobile's iPhone every year program and now I'm expected to pay a down-payment on the new phone, while trading in my currently leased phone, on top of monthly fees. Am I being bamboozled?
4. What should I do next? I just want to pay a monthly subscription for my iPhone, with no large payments whenever a new phone is released.

 

[eyoungren]

I think your confusion seems to stem from assuming that Apple's upgrade program is integrated with the carriers.

It's completely separate than anything the carriers may offer. You pay Apple monthly, they give you an unlocked phone for the carrier you have a plan with and you pay your carrier for the plan.

The carriers do not offer Apple's upgrade program. You have to go to Apple for that. So, whatever the carriers terms are you have to deal with them if you want a phone through the carrier and not Apple.

Right now, T-Mobile's Jump and JOD programs require a downpayment. Jump and JOD are not Apple programs. They are specific to T-Mobile.

Go to Apple if you want to deal just with Apple's upgrade program.

 

[Haxley]

I think your confusion seems to stem from assuming that Apple's upgrade program is integrated with the carriers.

It's completely separate than anything the carriers may offer. You pay Apple monthly, they give you an unlocked phone for the carrier you have a plan with and you pay your carrier for the plan.

The carriers do not offer Apple's upgrade program. You have to go to Apple for that. So, whatever the carriers terms are you have to deal with them if you want a phone through the carrier and not Apple.

Right now, T-Mobile's Jump and JOD programs require a downpayment. Jump and JOD are not Apple programs. They are specific to T-Mobile.

Go to Apple if you want to deal just with Apple's upgrade program.

I understand that they're completely separate. I made mention that Apple released their program, and other carriers followed suit, releasing similar programs. It was my understanding, whether it's through Apple or a carrier, that you're essentially subscribing to own an iPhone. You pay a monthly subscription, you always have the latest phone. Does Apple's Upgrade program require down payments on every new iPhone or do you just pay a monthly fee with no down payments, no paying off the old phone?

 

[eyoungren]

I understand that they're completely separate. I made mention that Apple released their program, and other carriers followed suit, releasing similar programs. It was my understanding, whether it's through Apple or a carrier, that you're essentially subscribing to own an iPhone. You pay a monthly subscription, you always have the latest phone. Does Apple's Upgrade program require down payments on every new iPhone or do you just pay a monthly fee with no down payments, no paying off the old phone?

Sprint had iPhone Forever before Apple had it's upgrade program. T-Mobile had JUMP and JOD before Apple had it's upgrade program. How is it that the carriers followed Apple?

I know of no program change after Apple created their update program. At least with Sprint or T-Mobile.

What T-Mobile and Sprint offers (and AT&T with it's Next program) are leasing. That is, you lease the phone from the carrier and pay them montly. Turn it in and your lease payments are forfeit but you can get a different phone (still leased).

Leasing is something entirely different than what Apple is offering, which is paying off the phone over 24 months with the option to upgrade (trading in your current phone) after a certain amount of time. You own the phone with Apple.

T-Mobile DOES have a promotional deal this year. The phone is free after 24 months with the carrier. They give you a monthly credit. Sprint copied T-Mobile with it's own promotional plan.

But neither of those are Apple's upgrade program because they are promo deals not a program.

No idea what promo deals the other two carriers offered.

 

[Haxley]

Sprint had iPhone Forever before Apple had it's upgrade program. T-Mobile had JUMP and JOD before Apple had it's upgrade program. How is it that the carriers followed Apple?

I know of no program change after Apple created their update program. At least with Sprint or T-Mobile.

What T-Mobile and Sprint offers (and AT&T with it's Next program) are leasing. That is, you lease the phone from the carrier and pay them montly. Turn it in and your lease payments are forfeit but you can get a different phone (still leased).

Leasing is something entirely different than what Apple is offering, which is paying off the phone over 24 months with the option to upgrade (trading in your current phone) after a certain amount of time. You own the phone with Apple.

So the answer is 1. "no", there is no down payment, nor finish paying off your old phone, in Apple's Upgrade program. And 2. "no", all carrier lease programs require you to pay a down payment when upgrading, along with the monthly cost.

 

[mistame]

Leasing is something entirely different than what Apple is offering, which is paying off the phone over 24 months with the option to upgrade (trading in your current phone) after a certain amount of time. You own the phone with Apple.

T-Mobile's lease really isn't too much different than Apple's Upgrade Program. Jump On Demand is still the payment of the phone broken up over a 24 month period with the ability to trade for a new phone at any time, but at month 18 (if you keep it that long) you are forced to either return the phone, trade it for a new one, or "buy it out" by paying the remaining 6 months of payment if you want to keep it.

I bought into T-Mobile's iPhone every year program and now I'm expected to pay a down-payment on the new phone, while trading in my currently leased phone, on top of monthly fees. Am I being bamboozled?

Depends on how you look at it, but from a pricing perspective, no, you're not being bamboozled. You are always paying only for the exact cost of the phone, just like Apple's program. The reason you're paying a down payment on higher tier models is that they are keeping your overall monthly payments the more or less the same for all models. So for the iPhone 7, it's ~$27/month for the 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB models, you just pay more upfront to keep those monthly costs the same. If you didn't do that, then the monthly cost would be approximately the same as Apple's program.

From a marketing perspective, it can be little misleading for a customer to see "Get the new iPhone for $0 down!", and then you read the fine print and see that's only for the base model and only if you have good credit.

In both programs, if you trade your iPhone in, you forfeit all previous payments toward your current phone and start your payments over.