Roger Fingas
U.S. carrier Sprint on Monday launched "iPhone Forever," a monthly fee plan designed to ensure a subscriber always has the latest iPhone model, available for a limited time at a discounted price.
The plan typically costs an extra $22 per month on top of service fees, Sprint said, but makes someone eligible to upgrade to a new iPhone the moment it's released, after also trading in a previous model. Both new and existing Sprint subscribers can sign up, but the latter people must already be upgrade-eligible.
For a short time, Sprint is offering a discounted fee of $15 per month for eligible customers willing to trade in any existing smartphone for a 16-gigabyte iPhone 6. People who then upgrade to another iPhone before Dec. 31 will be able to keep the $15 rate until their next upgrade.
If a person is already in a contract with another carrier, the company is promising to pay off the older device.
The announcement comes just a few weeks before Apple's rumored September 9 press event. There the company is expected to showcase at least two new phones, commonly referred to as the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. It could also potentially introduce a lower-cost "iPhone 6c," though if so the device may have the same specifications as the iPhone 6 in a smaller package.
All four major U.S. carriers have begun venturing away from contracts in favor of installment or upgrade programs. Sprint claims that its iPhone offering is at least $20 less per month than equivalents at competitors, although this assumes customers are picking a high-end data plan.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
17 Comments
Damn, if Sprint's network was just as good in my area as Verizon, I'd jump in a heartbeat.
Is "Forever" the new "Unlimited"? Like, until Sprint decides it isn't "Forever"?
if ATT would offer always current gen iPhone plan for $15 I'd sign up immediately. For $22 it would be a harder sell. And there would of course need to be the option to get a 64GB/128GB phone without a major jump in price.
Even with iCloud and faster LTE I'd have to see what larger capacity devices deals were. 16 GB hasn't been for me in a very long time.
at&t colludes--intimately--with the nsa. just might be a consideration for some folks.