Roger Fingas
Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program appears to be leading U.S. phone buyers away from AT&T and Verizon toward carriers with cheaper fees such as T-Mobile and Sprint, a report said on Monday.
T-Mobile credited the September quarter, its best iPhone quarter ever, partly to people buying their devices through Apple, according to Bloomberg. Sprint meanwhile is only due to reveal its quarterlies on Tuesday, but analysts are expecting the carrier to pick up 321,000 subscribers in a fourth consecutive quarter of user growth, at least some of them being iPhone Upgrade Program members.
Apple only launched the program in September alongside the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, and there are no precise figures on how many people have signed up. Analyst forecasts have called for anywhere between 3 and 9 million in the first year.
At a minimum of $32 a month for two years, the program is relatively expensive compared to some carrier-based leasing options, but it does offer a new unlocked iPhone every year including an AppleCare+ warranty. This frees owners to switch carriers at will.
T-Mobile and Sprint have both been aggressive about offering cheaper smartphone plans, potentially making them a natural destination for people not locked into contract. AT&T and Verizon typically have better coverage, although the gap is diminishing.
People wanting to enter the iPhone Upgrade Program must currently do so through an Apple Store. During a recent results call, Apple CEO Tim Cook signalled a desire to eliminate that obstacle.
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So I look forward to seeing if this might solve our dilemma. My wife and I are with AT&T and have been since the original iPhone so grandfathered in with unlimited data and I am on a buddy phone on the wife's account. Obviously we are stuck with the AT&T two year update cycle with this and we always update my wife's as she is a realtor and I am retired, so I get her cast off every two years and we switch the numbers over. Trying to see how both of us on the Apple plan it's hard to see the big picture in terms of costs versus what we have now. I would not be able to get the hand me down as they have to be returned I believe. Then there is no unlimited data if we go to AT&T and renegotiate with our own iPhones .. It's very hard to see the wood for the trees.
So I look forward to seeing if this might solve our dilemma.
My wife and I are with AT&T and have been since the original iPhone so grandfathered in with unlimited data and I am on a buddy phone on the wife's account. Obviously we are stuck with the AT&T two year update cycle with this and we always update my wife's as she is a realtor and I am retired, so I get her cast off every two years and we switch the numbers over.
Trying to see how both of us on the Apple plan it's hard to see the big picture in terms of costs versus what we have now. I would not be able to get the hand me down as they have to be returned I believe. Then there is no unlimited data if we go to AT&T and renegotiate with our own iPhones .. It's very hard to see the wood for the trees.
If you don't trade in, you keep it when it is payed off. It is an installment loan, with the option to trade back in after 12 months.
[quote name="chadbag" url="/t/189881/t-mobile-sprint-poised-to-pick-up-subscribers-from-apples-iphone-upgrade-program#post_2799934"] If you don't trade in, you keep it when it is payed off. It is an installment loan, with the option to trade back in after 12 months. [/quote] Ok, thanks, but to do the math do we know the value the trade in Apple will offer?
I don't think you do, as you just get the new version of whatever you had and continue paying, or adjust to a newer (say from 6S to 6S+ or whatever the iPhone 7 versions are, presumptively). If you trade in after 12, you sign another deal and just pay on the new deal. In that case it equates to a sort of "lease" or "rental" program.
It's not a trade-in, it's a lease. You hand the phone back at the end of the year and get a new one. In your situation, there's possibly a sweet-spot keeping your existing AT&T service with a new iPhone every 2 years for one of you and using the Apple iUP to refresh the other phone every year; there's a slightly more complex phone-go-round that envisages keeping the AT&T phone for 3 years and leasing from Apple every other year.