Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Update: No Apple.com Full Price Pre-orders

It seems like some people here are right and some are wrong. My understanding is this

If you are in the middle of your contract and want to buy the phone at full price during pre-order you will be able to. It will say you're ineligible for an upgrade and allow you to buy the phone for the unsubisidized price.

However, if you do not have a contract and are just trying to preorder the iPhone for full-price then you will not be able to. This is how Apple and the carriers prevent price gouging and reselling.
 
Yeah think that explains it. Does anyone know if the full unsubsidized price will require a contract. My guess is now
 
jason2811 said:
It seems like some people here are right and some are wrong. My understanding is this

If you are in the middle of your contract and want to buy the phone at full price during pre-order you will be able to. It will say you're ineligible for an upgrade and allow you to buy the phone for the unsubisidized price.

However, if you do not have a contract and are just trying to preorder the iPhone for full-price then you will not be able to. This is how Apple and the carriers prevent price gouging and reselling.
Click to expand...

can anyone else confirm this? this is the situation i am in and it would be great to have the option of preordering at full price.
 
jason2811 said:
It seems like some people here are right and some are wrong. My understanding is this

If you are in the middle of your contract and want to buy the phone at full price during pre-order you will be able to. It will say you're ineligible for an upgrade and allow you to buy the phone for the unsubisidized price.

However, if you do not have a contract and are just trying to preorder the iPhone for full-price then you will not be able to. This is how Apple and the carriers prevent price gouging and reselling.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that makes it more difficult for those of us who legitimately want to buy a full priced phone for our own use. They can prevent reselling by limiting sales to a single phone per account.
 
zachnelson said:
Internal system information has changed. Tomorrow night, Apple is only allowing pre-orders for new contracts or subsidized upgrades. There will be no full price pre-orders. I've spoken to multiple people to confirm this.

If you need/want to pay full price, your carrier should allow such a thing.
Click to expand...
Just open a totally new account with an iPhone 5. Immediately upon activation call them and replace the iPhone with a fake (or real) dumb phone (so no data charges). Put the 5 on your "regular" account. After about 2 weeks (make sure you are past the return period) cancel the "temp" account and pay the $350 ETF. Between ETF and the 1 month you've paid for you now have an "unsubsidized" phone to move to your regular account at just about the same cost you would have paid if you had waited.

You could do the same thing with adding a 2nd line. Cancel, pay the ETF, and keep the phone.
 
MR1324 said:
can anyone else confirm this? this is the situation i am in and it would be great to have the option of preordering at full price.
Click to expand...

I'm in that situation (I went off contract a month or so ago). I plan to see if I can order the full-priced iPhone from AT&T's website. I don't care if I need to go through some more steps to unlock it. I just don't want to extend my contract and want to be able to get it unlocked before I go on my next overseas trip next summer.

Since I live in NYC, buying it in store next week or the following week just isn't going to be an option. I'm not going to wait in line for hours with (some) tourists and (lots of) resellers from Taiwan or China. I have better things to do with my time. Last time I had a colleague who worked in NJ who also lived in my building, but he moved out a few months ago. The NJ stores are a lot less crowded, but I don't have a car to get out there very easily.
 
metsjetsfan said:
Yeah think that explains it. Does anyone know if the full unsubsidized price will require a contract. My guess is now
Click to expand...

i'll guess later.

I think what people are saying is you need a contract with one of the cell companies to buy the phone before the factory unlocked version is released.
 
I just got off the phone with a Verizon rep. Apparently, unsubsidized phones will NOT be available for pre-order tomorrow morning. He explained that VZ has only been allocated a (presumably) small amount of phones from Apple and would prefer to use that limited supply to fill the demand of customers looking to sign a 2yr committment. He said the best bet for getting a phone early would be through Apple, since they are indifferent as to contracts, carrier, etc. Hope this helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back