They will show the monthly Apple zero credit buy numbers. That's called marketing. Same reason something is priced at 29.99 instead of $30.
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To what extent do you think lack of 2 year subsidy will impact US iPhone sales?
- Thread starter thadoggfather
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True, starting at just $27/month before taxes, versus $199 with the smoke bounce effect
I don't really understanding financing those, for those who can afford it out of pocket and this seems to still be a healthy portion of the market
For those who can't, I understanding lessening the blow spread out over time. It's rather obvious in that case.
is it just using the device with 'as a service' pay as you go type rationalization? I feel like I know people who can afford to just pay it upfront and be done with it, versus installments.
It's not a car we're talking about here,
The U.S carriers don't have the balls to go the European / Asian route of paying full price for your iPhone, but in return get a much more affordable monthly payment on cell service.
No way will you see someone walk into Verizon or ATT, and say hi, I'd like to get the new iPhone 7, ok we have that in stock, it's on sale for $800. And the customer saying WTF, did you say $800 ? Yes, is there a problem ? Yeah, no way in hell I'll ever pay that much money for a new phone, I'm used to paying $99 for my brand new iPhone, with monthly payments. Sorry, but that's not available anymore. Ok goodbye, guess I'll just stick with this older phone longer then.
So the carriers now offer "financing" for new phones for a monthly fee, and still allow your new iPhone to be bought on the cheap upfront with little money.
U.S. carriers really haven't got rid of 2 year contracts, just a different way of paying for your phone. They will NEVER totally stop the subsidy or financing part, I doubt we ever see, a new phone selling for $800 outright, with zero other options to get it, the U.S public just won't go for it. And if the carriers really did do that, watch smartphone sales plummet to all time lows, and people keeping phone for 4 to 5 years on average. And cheaper Android phones like OnePlus for $249 off contract will become much more popular.
No way will you see someone walk into Verizon or ATT, and say hi, I'd like to get the new iPhone 7, ok we have that in stock, it's on sale for $800. And the customer saying WTF, did you say $800 ? Yes, is there a problem ? Yeah, no way in hell I'll ever pay that much money for a new phone, I'm used to paying $99 for my brand new iPhone, with monthly payments. Sorry, but that's not available anymore. Ok goodbye, guess I'll just stick with this older phone longer then.
So the carriers now offer "financing" for new phones for a monthly fee, and still allow your new iPhone to be bought on the cheap upfront with little money.
U.S. carriers really haven't got rid of 2 year contracts, just a different way of paying for your phone. They will NEVER totally stop the subsidy or financing part, I doubt we ever see, a new phone selling for $800 outright, with zero other options to get it, the U.S public just won't go for it. And if the carriers really did do that, watch smartphone sales plummet to all time lows, and people keeping phone for 4 to 5 years on average. And cheaper Android phones like OnePlus for $249 off contract will become much more popular.
I think people look at the monthly total and not whether subsidized or not - or as someone said you were really paying every month anyway from the vendor. Where it might affect is after the 24 months (or whatever period) when a phone bill drops and people say - I can save money by delaying a purchase.
Not sure how much of decreased sales Apple will encounter. But I believe the new slew of Windows Phones will become more popular.
I was in the Microsoft Store today and they had 4 phones there all from $129-249 and they looked and felt exceptionally good for the price. Plus Windows Phone is the most fluid OS compared to any smartphone OS out there!
You got to give it to MS for how great it feels. Too bad its crappy for third party app support!
I was in the Microsoft Store today and they had 4 phones there all from $129-249 and they looked and felt exceptionally good for the price. Plus Windows Phone is the most fluid OS compared to any smartphone OS out there!
You got to give it to MS for how great it feels. Too bad its crappy for third party app support!
$649 for a 16GB phone is really difficult to stomach in 2016.
Financing and monthly payments will mitigate the shock factor, but I agree with the person above who predicts that people will go to longer upgrade cycles when they see their monthly bill drop a lot after the phone is paid off. A phone like the 6S is so powerful that it may very well last 3+ years. The iPhone 5 is over 3 years old and still performs well on the latest iOS.
My belief is that longer upgrade cycles are going to hurt Apple's profits in the coming years. Personally I would like to see phones at the $400-500 level that can last 3-5 years. Mobile phone tech has matured and gains are incremental.
Financing and monthly payments will mitigate the shock factor, but I agree with the person above who predicts that people will go to longer upgrade cycles when they see their monthly bill drop a lot after the phone is paid off. A phone like the 6S is so powerful that it may very well last 3+ years. The iPhone 5 is over 3 years old and still performs well on the latest iOS.
My belief is that longer upgrade cycles are going to hurt Apple's profits in the coming years. Personally I would like to see phones at the $400-500 level that can last 3-5 years. Mobile phone tech has matured and gains are incremental.
Meh, those are the same people who will now think $30/mo is the price of the phone.
I lived in Qatar for 2014/2015. I had Vodafone for my phone services, there was no such thing as a making payments. The cool thing is You could go to stores and they had every phone under the sun I mean you could have got a phone for QR 189 to QR 2399 ( US 50 $658) and monthly plans where about $160 for 10 gigs of Data BUT you get a ton of Free stuff.
[doublepost=1453079955][/doublepost]Also vodafone.de (Germany) still has iphones with Copay. Your paying $116.69 for 13 months for 20 gigs a month. Or again you could just buy it out right.
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MS phones are fun but if your an apple user you won't change over because its cheaper.
[doublepost=1453079955][/doublepost]Also vodafone.de (Germany) still has iphones with Copay. Your paying $116.69 for 13 months for 20 gigs a month. Or again you could just buy it out right.
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Phones can and do last that long. I have had friends who had the iPhone from lunch and they kept the same one till the 4 came out.
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MS phones are fun but if your an apple user you won't change over because its cheaper.
This. I don't get why most can't understand this concept. The installment model is likely better for most, as your monthly payment drops once the phone is paid off, which didn't happen before. Anyone that didn't renew immediately after 2 years likely paid more overall than they will with something like NEXT.
Because when AT&T and Verizon changed from old voice minute plans to the new shared data plans they raised the prices on data for a lot of people. So it was much cheaper sticking to the old rated minute plan with unlimited data with a 2 year subsidy than switch over to the new plan with financing.
To rephrase, they did drop the cost of the service BUT they pocked some of that subsidy savings instead of passing it onto the consumers.
Not for me. My monthly FamilyTalk plan was $145/mo and the switch to MSV brought it down to $100/mo with an extra gig and data rollover.
Did you have unlimited data on the familytalk plan? and what is your data cap now?
and you have to remember that 145 mo has the subsidy in it. That's $18.75 savings per line. So I'm guessing it's at least $37.5 for you (as you need 2 lines for family plan) therefore 145-37.5 = $107.5 was your net cost. So only $7.5 savings in your case.
Except you couldn't actually get that monthly rate before, even after the 2 year term was up. So anyone that didn't upgrade immediately likely paid more than they will now with installment plans.
The unlimited holdovers are the only ones I've heard bitching about this. The gravy train can't run forever...
That's a moot point considering this was no point in not upgrading. Especially because of how huge the upgrades were: iPhone 3GS was soo much faster, iPhone 4 was retina, iPhone 5 has LTE, etc. (and other perks too like new battery, warranty, etc.)
Is this bizarro world? Since when it getting a good deal a bad thing as a consumer.
Moot? Not everyone upgrades immediately. Letting the plan ride for even 6 months past contract is an extra $230 for my level plan. Depending on when they signed up, many probably did that just waiting for a new iPhone release.
There's a difference between a good deal and taking advantage.
Old subsidy method: "upgrading to 64GB costs an extra $100.00".
New financing method: "upgrading to a 64GB only costs an extra $3.33/month".
With the right marketing push on that financing spin, I can see most consumers thinking that not upgrading to 64GB would be stupid, with 'as little as it costs'.
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Before you take the subsidy out, don't you need to add the initial up-front cost of the phones in? Although it's not part of the monthly payment, it is part of the net cost of the 2-year plan.
Assuming he bought two "$199" iPhones, that puts his up-front cost at $398. Spread monthly over the 2-year contract, that'd effectively adds $16.58 per month to the net cost of the contract.
So 145 + 16.58 - 37.50 = $124.08 per month, net cost, no?
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No because the base model iPhone could always be sold for $200, 2 years later. So that cancels out that fee. (technically you have to add the upgrade fee tho )
Then you have to remove $200 for each phone from phone bought at full price as you can sell those in two years as well.
I can't speak for anyone else and I haven't got a crystal ball, as so many seem to have. Personally, there won't be an impact. I will buy my iPhone 7 on the Next plan, as I did the iPhone 6s Plus. No big deal. I appreciate not having to be locked into a two year contract. And I'd rather pay 37 bucks per month than 199 up front. That's just me.
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This also applied to the discounted models from previous years. I would implore my friends to always get the latest model, as it would future-proof the phone and generally be a much better experience. This generally fell on deaf ears. "But I can get a free phone!" they would say. I would explain that their "free" phones were costing at least $2000 over the 2 year contract, and so a $100 or $200 discount amounted to only a few dollars a month. They couldn't care less. I found this to be quite exasperating, and eventually stopped offering advice.
By the same token, while it felt like a ripoff to pay $100 more to get an extra 48GB on my latest phone, it gave me quadruple the storage and amounted to a 5% increase in price (I bought my phone on the last day subsidies were available).
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I don't think that iPhone prices are going to come down a lot--maybe a $100 or so if that. I belive people recognize that Apple products generally have a better build quality and they are willing pay for that. The Samsung Galaxy line are also higher quality and (upon first release) and are just as expensive.
I've noticed that when people discuss iPhone prices, they tend to compare it to a mid range Android phone which I don't think is valid.
People pay Apple prices for macs and iPads and those don't have subsidies.
I've noticed that when people discuss iPhone prices, they tend to compare it to a mid range Android phone which I don't think is valid.
People pay Apple prices for macs and iPads and those don't have subsidies.
The carriers are changing the pricing plans every 2 months and it's getting more and more confusing. For example with Next, you pay the base price of talk and data, then there's some discount if you're buying enough data, but then you're not sure if you keep the phone after 12 or 24 months or have to give it back. It gets hard to compare different carrier plans because they all have different restrictions and I think people will get tired and just deal with it every 3-4 years instead of every 2. However I don't see apple losing profits. More and more people will come to iOS and they'll think of new products such as an ipod touch with LTE.
Why aren't you sure of whether you keep the phone or not? The details of financing are available so you'd know what the terms are.
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Why would a free phone (or any phone) cost at least $2000 over the 2 year contract?
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You get to keep more of your money longer. For some that can be a better idea than giving up more of their money right away in the beginning. (All of this is assuming 0% financing and no additional fees.)
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I used to think that but I don't think it's the case anymore.
Am iphone 5s is 0 down with a two year contract. I don't think there's anyone on the planet who actually thinks Apple is giving away a phone for free. People know that there is a reason you have to sign a contract for 2 years.
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Agree. I see no reason to not upgrade every year. "Owning" your phone is just semantics.
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No they won't. None of that will happen.
Why would people care if the phone cost 650 if they're not going to be paying any more for it now with the new payment plans? It will be the same monthly cost.
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It's not a "cell phone", it's the primary computer for most people.
Are you done yet? You sound like you have a vested interest in Apple's demise. It's sad.
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Service.