T-Mobile offers 'free' iPhone 7 with Black Friday trade-in promotion

The U.S. branch of T-Mobile on Tuesday announced a series of Black Friday-related promotions, most notably letting people get a "free" 32-gigabyte iPhone 7 or 7 Plus with a qualifying trade-in.

For a regular iPhone 7, people must trade in an iPhone 6s, or one of a number of recent LG or Samsung devices. Similar deals apply for the 7 Plus, though the trade-in devices must be more expensive, such as a 6s Plus.

People who have an older and/or cheaper phone can also get their iPhone of choice, but may have to pay extra — for instance $100 for the standard iPhone 7 if they have an iPhone 6, or $350 if they have an iPhone 5, 5c, or 5s. Further premiums apply if a person wants to upgrade the amount of storage they get.

There are other catches as well — the cost of the new iPhone is simply credited against 24 monthly bills, and people must sign up for a One or Simple Choice Unlimited plan, which can be more expensive. The trade-in deals will last from Nov. 24 through Nov. 27.

Separately, T-Mobile is offering $200 per line for people switching numbers to the carrier, up to a limit of $2,400. Each line must be signed up to a One plan with eligible device payments — the bonus cash comes in the form of a prepaid MasterCard.

Between today and Nov. 26, T-Mobile will be supplying a free hour of Gogo Wi-Fi on domestic U.S. airline flights. This notably includes everyone, not just the carrier's customers.

6 Comments

linkman 11 Years · 1041 comments

About 8 years ago

Wow, that iPhone is so not free. It would be free if I can walk into the store, pick one up, and walk out with no obligation, restriction, or restraint.

georgie01 8 Years · 437 comments

linkman said:

Wow, that iPhone is so not free. It would be free if I can walk into the store, pick one up, and walk out with no obligation, restriction, or restraint.

Sure, but if you're already a customer and have no intention of switching to another carrier, then it could potentially cost you nothing out of pocket. Not an amazing deal but a decent one.

For new customers it's just a nice perk. But ... combined with their weekend deal (expiring today), one could have conceivably received iPhone 7s and 4 lines of 'unlimited' LTE data for $120/mo. That's pretty excellent.

Gloria N Quang 8 Years · 1 comment

Can I trade in a broken iPhone 5 though? And I know that I would pay $450

bestkeptsecret 13 Years · 4289 comments

I like the picture on top. All gifts are miniscule compared to getting an iPhone!

31 flavas 13 Years · 51 comments

linkman said:

Wow, that iPhone is so not free. It would be free if I can walk into the store, pick one up, and walk out with no obligation, restriction, or restraint.

I'm sorry that you think T-Mobile should allow themselves to be scammed just so you can be right. That said, as opposed to the previous "2-year contract with a subsidy" this is an actual legitimate free (or reduced price) iPhone 7 after 24 monthly bill credits.

The old carrier subsidy model was a very convincing magic trick. They'd ring up the phone it would show $650 (or whatever), you'd sign their service agreement obligating yourself to 2-years of service, and *poof* $450 would disappear. You only paid $200 + tax for the phone. What you didn't see and, to this day some still can't understand or see, was that the $450 that disappeared was because you were given a $450 loan which you unknowingly repaid though your base service fee. In the end, at 2-years your loan was paid off so you netted zero value from your "commitment" and unless you immediately resigned and recommitted on a new phone for another $450 loan -- instead you began losing value because you continue to make payments on the payed off loan you never knew you had.

With T-Mobile, you know what your monthly service fee is. You know what the balance on your 'phone contract' is and you T-mobile will literally pay of the phone for you, over 2-years. If you leave early, you owe the balance on the phone and forfeit all future credits for the phone. But, the credits you received for the duration you stayed with T-Mobile are yours to keep. Here is the actual breakdown of my own.

I got in on the original iPhone 7 launch promo. I traded in an iPhone 6 towards an iPhone 7 128gb. Now on the original launch promo both iPhone 6 and 6s were accepted as a straight up trade. So my 2-year old iPhone 6 was effectively worth $650. Which is a terrific value for it. However, here is the exact breakdown.

The $650 I will get to make this a straight up trade is broken into two parts. The estimated trade-in value the phone (mine was $165) and the 24 monthly bill credits. After the trade-in phone is confirmed that amount is deducted from the EIP balance. So $650 - $165 = $485. The monthly bill credits are then determined based on that remaining balance. So $485 / 24 = $20.21 credit/mo. 24 months * $20.21 = $485.04 +$165 = $650.04

On this Black Friday promo an iPhone 6 only worth $550 (where as I got $650), but you won't get $550 for an iPhone 6 from anyone else. So the calculation for an iPhone 6 on this Black Friday promo would be: $550 - (trade-in value of iPhone 6 awarded) = This amount / 24 months = Your monthly bill credit. (adjust the formula base on what phone you trade in)

Now on my T-mo phone bill, I'm charged $27.09 / mo for the iPhone 7. But, only given a $20.21 credit to cover that. I wouldn't blame you for thinking that's a scam or you're being shortchanged. But you aren't. Here is why: $650 / 24 months = $27.09/mo -- which is what you'd owe every month if you didn't trade in a phone or traded in broken / busted / no value phone.

Instead the $27.09/mo is deducted from the remaining EIP balance. Meaning my EIP will be payed off and competed in 18 months instead of 24 (with a final monthly payment of $24.47, instead). In otherwords, the trade-in value of my iPhone 6 reduced the number of months left on the EIP instead of reducing the payment required each month. So I will end up with 6 months at the end where I will still be receiving a $20.21 monthly bill credit even though the EIP is completely paid off (and i'm not incurring payments for it). It's weird, but it's t-mobile covering themselves from being scammed by scammers.

Also, no need to worry if you break, scratch, or lose the iPhone 7. The phone is yours. The bill credits will continue no matter what you do with the phone. You can even sell the phone (to a private party) if you want. Just be aware the phone is carrier locked until the EIP is payed off. And you can't sign a second EIP (for the same phone number) until the first (on that number) is complete.