With Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program, you can get a new iPhone every year. You’re buying directly from Apple, which means no more financing your iPhone through your carrier or committing to a multiyear service contract. Apple connects your new iPhone to your carrier for you, so you won’t have to make any changes to your rate plan. And if you ever decide to switch carriers after you activate your iPhone with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon, you can easily do that, too.
The major U.S. carriers also offer iPhone purchases via installment plans. AppleInsider compares the two.
A drawback of [Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Program] for some customers is sending the iPhone back to Apple instead of recouping some of the cost by selling the old model. On the other hand, a benefit of the program is that the iPhone isn’t tied to a multi-year service contract.
Each carrier offers its version of the iPhone Upgrade Program by spreading payments, typically to 24 months, but some carriers spread the cost out further. These prices are for the iPhone 14 128GB model as an example.
• AT&T: $22.23/mo for 36 months
• AT&T Next Up: $28.23/mo for 36 months
• T-Mobile: $33.34/mo for 24 months
• Verizon: $22.22/mo for 36 months
MacDailyNews Take: Bring on the iPhone hardware subscription program!
See also: Apple’s iPhone hardware subscription in active testing – September 12, 2022
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When I traded my iPhone 12 for the 13 Pro Max at an Apple Store in May of this year, Apple gave me a trade in credit during an AT&T trade in promotion. A month later, I receive an email from Apple claiming they never received my phone and billed $700 to the credit card assigned to my account. Apple Support claimed they received the trade-in, a visit to the same Apple Store also confirmed the trade in was received. Three months later, Apple has not yet refunded my credit card in spite of repeated inquiries and claiming I never contacted them in the past and AT&T recently billed my account $700 on top of my regular monthly bill. To say I’m frustrated with this trade-in deal gone pear-shaped is an understatement.
This is why I never do trade-ins. Maintaining “chain of custody” of the traded-in phone is a worse bet than maintaining “chain of custody” of millions of anonymously-submitted ballots; you wind up with situations that don’t match reason, and about which you can do nothing.
Didn’t your trade in come with an Apple FedEx return label/box?
I brought my trade in to the Apple Store, according to apple support and a store manager the iPhone 12 Pro Max was received 6/2. I’ve done many in person trades over the years for iPhones and iPads with no issues.
If this were such a good idea, why do the carriers want you to do it and not buy outright? And if you trade in and pay off and leave the carrier, you lose the value of any trade in since they pay you for it in bill credits.
Just buy it outright and not be locked in.
I hate, hate, HATE, monthly payment plans! Especially for HW! And if for any reason you want it or can pay it off, these carriers take away ALL the massive overinflated trade-in credits.
Financial New Flash: If you do not have $799 or $500 after trading in with Apple or selling your old phone, then you can’t actually afford a new phone and shouldn’t be buying one.
I simply trade in with Apple. I got $370 for my iPhone 11 Pro Max 64GB. Fair enough and no hassle selling myself. The new iPhone 14 Pro Max then cost $729. I used Apple Card and 3% cash back, bringing the total out of pocket cost to $707.
And no I don’t have a monthly fee slowly digging at my wallet each month and am not forced to NOT pay it off – horrible – and instead be stuck paying a monthly fee for 2 years.
If you don’t have $400 – $800 in cash to buy outright or pay off a monthly program if and when. You need to do so, then you should not be buying a new iPhone (or much else for that matter (and seriously saving your money for more important things- like living).