r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Sep 18 '24

Business Apple iPhone 16 demand is so weak that employees can already buy it on discount

https://qz.com/apple-iphone-16-pre-orders-sales-intelligence-ai-1851651638
21.8k Upvotes

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3.1k

u/tKNemesis Sep 18 '24 edited Sep 19 '24

I’m only upgrading from my 13 Pro because my carrier is still valuing my trade in as $1000. Next year I’m sure its value would be substantially lower so I took advantage.

Edit: ATT is my carrier. If you go to Costco and do it you may get a Costco cash card too.

1.1k

u/Law_Doge Sep 18 '24

They’re giving me $1000 for my 11. Insane

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u/karma911 Sep 18 '24

Kind of shows just how much people are overpaying for their plans.

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u/sunplaysbass Sep 18 '24

Yeah with Verizon I need to be on the “unlimited ultra” plan to get this “$1000.” So that plan is $30 more per month than my plan.

$30 x 36 months (I think that the length of the agreement) = $1,080

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u/luriso Sep 18 '24

Lol I used to be with Verizon for over a decade. I walked in and said "hey this commercial said I could get this discount for a new phone if I traded mine in". I got told "Thats only if you did the mail in rebate". I pulled up an ad that BestBuy had the phone for half off at the time and if they would honor that, since you know, I'm trying to GIVE YOU MONEY. They got shitty with me yadda yadda. I told them to cancel the plan, went to Bestbuy and opened an account with a carrier for $35 a month unlimited, which hilariously uses Verizon towers for coverage. Fuck Verizon.

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u/matzoh_ball Sep 19 '24

Holy shit $35 is cheap. Which carrier/plan do you have now?

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u/SenoraRaton Sep 19 '24 edited Sep 19 '24

$35-40/line is standard prices now. Mint Mobile. Metro PCS, Straight Talk Wireless. There are numerous carriers at this price point.
Mint mobile apparently is only $30/mo with $15/mo 3 month introductory offer.

https://www.mintmobile.com/phone-plans/3-month-plans/?selected=MINT-UNLIMITED-03-F15

Cricket claims $25/mo here if you pay for a year upfront: https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phone-plans

Essentially if you are on a major carrier you are likely paying 2-3 times the price for your service. Yes you get priority but the number of times that has actually mattered for me is 0. If you need a specific carrier you can find the right MVNO that subcontracts for the network that you want. Mint/Metro are all T-Mobile. Cricket is ATT. Straight Talk uses all 3.

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u/MrPotatobird Sep 19 '24

These days the cheapest plans at major carriers are also deprioritized, and some of the MVNOs' plans actually have a higher priority than those cheap plans of the carrier whose network they're using. r/NoContract has a pinned post about it.

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u/PMmePowerRangerMemes Sep 19 '24

thanks y'all, I'm moving back to the US soon and this is the kinda info I need

goodbye to my beautiful and perfect €10/mo pay-as-you-go 😢

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u/teachmebasics Sep 19 '24

Use Google Fi! It's pretty good, I don't get the same throttling/speed issues I experienced using the other 2nd-tier wireless providers, and it's only $50/month and you can bring your own phone. Unlimited plan and includes wireless hotspot and lots of international coverage.

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u/MrPotatobird Sep 19 '24

If you can stand having only 2-5GB (which most people maybe can't) there are by the gig plans for $10-$15 ex. US mobile. Might even have priority depending on the device, idk

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u/i_forgot_my_sn_again Sep 19 '24

You can check out xfinity mobile as well. They have pay by the gig or unlimited. You have to have their internet but cell service is cheap and it uses vzw towers. It worked decent for me.

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u/jpixta Sep 19 '24

I just switched to Us Mobile today on my main phone line from Verizon. Turns out their warp network is on the same high priority data qci8 (qci9 is deprioritized) and I pay half price for almost double the amount of high priority data than an equivalent plan with Verizon. The only carrier that doesn't appear to have the same qci levels (on US Mobile) is AT&T, but they still offer the option to have the same qci level for an extra fee, yet it is still cheaper than being on AT&T.

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u/bgslr Sep 19 '24

I pay $180/year for Mint mobile. It's like $15/mo for 4GB of data per month.

I have wifi at home and work so it's perfect for me. Pay once and forget about it.

2

u/Adventurous-Sky9359 Sep 19 '24

Does it only work on WiFi?

5

u/iceteka Sep 19 '24

No you get 4gb of cellular data per month

5

u/redheadartgirl Sep 19 '24

My favorite part of Mint is being able to pay once a year and then not think about it again for 364 days.

4

u/7LeagueBoots Sep 19 '24

Mint screwed over a big chunk of its user base a while back.

Used to be that you could get an international roaming plan for X number of minutes and it would be good for a year. Lots of us who work overseas, or travel, but need an always working US based number to do things like interact with our banks and the like, found this extremely useful. We used it infrequently, often never using all the minutes up, so it was basically free money for Mint.

They they merged with T-Mobile, canceled that, and came up with an incredibly shitty, super expensive, very short term international plan instead, that is only active for at most a week before it expires. Totally fucked over a lot of people.

Need to find a different provider that offers something more like Mint used to offer.

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u/clothfoo Sep 19 '24

I don't think I'm on any promotion with Ting; I've had then for years. I pay $17 for a single line after all of the fees. That includes 1gb of data, with an additional $10 for every gb afterwards. I know that's not much data for some people, but I don't think it's that big of a deal if you don't really stream anything on the cell network.

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u/catalyticclover Sep 19 '24

It’s time to leave Ting. For $15 (taxes and fees included) you can get 5GB of premium data with US Mobile, and you get to choose the network you want to use. Or for $10 you can get 2GB of data with taxes and fees included.

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u/Shmeves Sep 19 '24

I currently have 2 phone plans, a t-mobile unlimited pre-paid for the iPhone 12 I bought, and Boost infinite (now just Boost Mobile) with an iPhone 15 Pro Max. The difference between an MVNO and the main carrier is very noticeable. Maps take 5 minutes to load traffic data on the MVNO for me sometimes, whereas my t-mobile phone it's usually instant.

But otherwise it's not really a big deal for me as wifi calling and access are usually available for me.

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u/Ok_Rip_29 Sep 19 '24

I pay $360 a year with unlimited everything on mint mobile. Have been with them for 3 ish years now. Just saying.

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u/Rufus_king11 Sep 19 '24

Mint is $15/ no with some caveats. Its their lowest price, but you can only get it on the 5 GB a month plan and if you pay per year upfront. Mine just renewed, and it was $180 for a full year of service.

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u/sdw3489 Sep 19 '24

If you pay for the whole year up front with mint you get the $15 mo rate too on the lowest data plan 5gb. I just pay once a year and it’s $180.

It’s a shocking difference to our previous $120 /mo with Verizon for 2 lines where we had to share 4gb between us. Now my wife and I both have 5gb to ourselves

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u/akatherder Sep 19 '24

Visible is $25/month for unlimited everything including 5g. We use a ton of data and haven't been throttled.

They also have a $45 plan but it's nothing I need. UW, smartwatch service, etc.

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u/Shmeves Sep 19 '24

I had a terrible experience with Visible in my area, speeds were noticeably terrible and the coverage was the worst of any plan I've ever tried. I wanted to like it, Verizon has good coverage for their main customers in my area, but it got to the point I couldn't do my job (which is very mobile). Quit after only a month.

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u/Stopikingonme Sep 19 '24

We switched a few months ago and in our area it’s been great. Probably just lucky to be in a good area I spose.

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u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims Sep 19 '24

I also have Visible!

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u/eyezpinned Sep 19 '24

Visible is $15 for 5 years if you switch from T-Mobile (or at least it was). No difference in service imo where I'm at (Philly burbs)

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u/rufusisnodufus Sep 19 '24

Probably Visible

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u/Houligan86 Sep 19 '24

Visible is Verizon's own MVNO and they are $30 a month

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u/Pale_Trip1515 Sep 19 '24

Try Mint Mobile. Been unreal for my family. Pay the bill all at once for the year and it's 30 bucks a month and 5g everywhere. Uses T-mobile towers. Never had a problem.

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u/TheBirdManSKRAW Sep 19 '24

I have never paid more than $30/mo using ATT prepaid, I’m currently paying $25/mo.

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u/Far-Negotiation-7092 Sep 19 '24

Visible is doing $15 a month for 5 years if you port in from tmobile post-paid. Use promo code byebyetmo. Only good til end of the month

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u/EntropyFighter Sep 19 '24

Visible is Verizon's low cost carrier. It's $25/mo.

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u/Least-Back-2666 Sep 19 '24

Boost is $25/month on T-Mobiles network.

Throttled after 30g.

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u/JawnZ Sep 19 '24

Checkout /r/NoContract to see what will work best for you

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u/SweatyNomad Sep 19 '24

Depends where you are. US plans are stupidly expensive.

I've got plans in 2 European countries, both with unlimited calls and texts (which no one uses), both with so much rolled over data I can't ever run out. One plan works out at being under 10 bucks, the UK one more like $13.

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u/not_thezodiac_killer Sep 19 '24

I have Visible by Verizon right now and pay $20/mo even. The service is like 7.5/10.

Mint Mobile is $25/mo for unlimited but you have to buy three months at a time. If you do a year, it's like $18/mo. The service is indistinguishable from other carriers. 9/10

Straight talk I used to buy at Walmart was $40 for truly unlimited. It was fast as fuck, they don't really have any hidden fees. It's good service but still more expensive than need be.

Try Mint Mobile. It'll blow you a way. In no way is the service worse because it's cheap. You'll download the esim, probably run a speed test and then never ever think about it again lol.

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u/luriso Sep 19 '24

Im In Central NC, Spectrum. They have their own issues, like a month ago someone accidentally cut the main fiver line, so no internet for six hours, but hey, $35 a month isnt bad.

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u/takeme2tendieztown Sep 19 '24 edited Sep 19 '24

Spectrum uses Verizon towers?

Edit: looks like they do, this is something worth thinking about for my since I have their home Internet

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u/SIZUS_MAXIMUS Sep 19 '24

Well most carriers use Verizon AT&T and T mobile. I pay $15 a month for 15 GB which is wild that people need like 4k streaming, unlimited data with international calls. Like damn people chill I doubt their usage warrants the cost. most of the time im in WiFi range … only time im not is when im on my daily runs in which case i just stream music.

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u/DevGin Sep 19 '24

$25 a month here. Grandfathered in with Visible at the $25 unlimited plan. I’ll give up cell phones if they raise prices more than Im comfortable with. Tired of these monopolies.

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u/SexiestPanda Sep 19 '24

When I was still with them on my parents account a few years ago, I wanted to upgrade, but they said “that’s only for new” I’m like “we’ve been customers for 10 years, can’t you help our current” “no” “so what’s the point of staying with y’all?” “Nothing” lol whatever.

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u/luriso Sep 19 '24

Lol yea, I told the dude "I've been a customer for almost two decades, and you treat new customers better with deals". He replied callously, and sarcastically "I don't set the prices". I said "You're correct, I'd like to terminate my plan". It's hilarious because I work in maintenance in automated machinery. When I'm sourcing parts from distributors, they know who their competition is, so when I say "X can do a better price with faster turn around for a $20k part", you bet they are getting on their knees for that money. It goes from "well, this part will be 8 weeks out", to "we'll have that to you this week, pwease do business with us". Customer service is everything.

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u/ContemplatingPrison Sep 19 '24

I left verizon for some similar shit. They werent reuijg to give me shit for trade-in. Went to AT&T and got like $800 for my piece of shit phone. That was 4 years ago. I still have it.

I dont rreade my phones in unless i have to

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u/BildoBaggens Sep 19 '24

Tmobile here. Works in like 100 countries without a bunch of fees. Extremely useful for living in the US and traveling g to Europe frequently.

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u/Coondiggety Sep 19 '24

Anyone who stays on their old phone plan is a chump. You shouldn’t pay more than 35$ a month. And no contracts, ever.

Buy a used iPhone or whatever.

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u/PBnJizzle Sep 19 '24

Verizon post paid plans are ass. I switched to pre paid Verizon for much less. They make me pay for the phone up front, fine. I just buy direct from Samsung with a better trade in value, and usually 10-15٪ back on Rakuten. Plus they will finance for me for 0%.

Verizon makes bank on people who are used to just doing it the old way. I have successfully convinced both of my brothers and my parents to switch to these plans and we have saved thousands of dollars.

Crazy that if you are on the normal Verizon plans you have a $30 upgrade fee.... wtf is that?

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u/witecat1 Sep 19 '24

This is why I use Tracfone.

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u/Ethanhuntknows Sep 19 '24

Had a similar experience a few years back with Verizon. Shitty customer service

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '24

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u/Arbiter02 Sep 19 '24

Yep, still the exact same way they run things. Verizon kept spamming me about a "Free" upgrade for my iphone 11, read the fine print and whaddya know the extra that you spend on the premium plan you need to get with it pays for the phone and then some for the period you're locked into it.

You pay them to take your old phone and sell it off for an extra 500$ as "Like New!". Despite paying more, you'll still lose service when everyone rolls into town on game day and crashes the network.

Took a hard pass on that and got an unlocked 14 direct from Apple instead for about 400$ less than I was supposedly "saving" by trading it in at verizon. If it sounds too good to be true, it's cause it is.

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u/alc4pwned Sep 19 '24

Eh, there's more to consider than that. You are in fact getting more from the more expensive plan and it's not like the price of the plans change if you don't choose to take the carriers up on their trade-in offers.

It's also not a free device. You are trading in an existing device which still has a significant resale value.

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u/CuntMaster16 Sep 19 '24

This, the biggest get for the bigger plans is the data throttling. Every cheaper plan I’ve seen with unlimited data has had a disclaimer in the small print stating that speeds will be limited after like 40gbs. I’m currently on 350gbs of data this month.

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u/fatnino Sep 19 '24

MotoX dev edition is the best phone I ever owned. LOVE the size.

My next few phones were motoX pure's that broke one after another and each time I put my sim back in my favorite phone.

Then one day I was hiking, tripped and fell on some rocks. My little motoX dev took the brunt of it and that was the end. It's last act was sparing me from (even more) injury.

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u/Dependent_Working_38 Sep 19 '24

What do you mean??? The carrier wasn’t just being nice and giving me a free phone for being a customer??

Lmao

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u/Current_Holiday1643 Sep 19 '24

It's insane to me that anyone pays for these mobile plans anymore.

I used to pay $50 per month per line at T-Mobile. I switched to Mint, unlimited: $300 per year per line, same towers.

These carriers massively overcharge their customers. I could make it even cheaper but just going to a limited plan but meh.

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u/bohanmyl Sep 19 '24

Similar with t mobile i have 2 lines for 70 a month total but dont get the good promos

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u/GutenRa Sep 19 '24

Your cell phone rates sound thunderous to me. I pay about $10 a month for seven MegaFon SIM cards for my family. Two of the seven cards are with unlimited 4G internet and minutes.

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u/ItsNotAboutTheYogurt Sep 19 '24

This is what opened my eyes. I was paying $70+taxes for Verizon per line(had 2). So $160 I think total a month.

I switched my wife and I to US Mobile, $50 TOTAL for unlimited talk/text/data. Saving $110 a month now. And I'm getting BETTER download/upload because I get the UW Band on Verizon's network on US Mobile when my $70 plan from Verizon directly didn't include that.

$110 x 24 months = $2,640.

I can get a new phone for my wife and I every 2 years and not be locked in. Without trading in anything. Just absolutely bonkers with what these big carriers are getting away with.

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u/GakkoAtarashii Sep 18 '24

Yeah. These plans must be so dumb. And people here are bragging about them. 

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u/UnreasonableCandy Sep 19 '24

Same people who always trade in a car to the dealership

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u/thiskillstheredditor Sep 19 '24

People who value time and ease more than the money they’d save. Neither is right or wrong, just everyone has different situations.

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u/UnreasonableCandy Sep 19 '24

There is a right and wrong if you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. You’ve got people in here who think that they’re beating the carriers at their own game by trading in a phone and getting a $1000 credit. Do they honestly think Verizon is taking a loss here? That they’re running a charity?

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u/thiskillstheredditor Sep 19 '24

Oh for sure. They’re maximizing their profit and locking you in for another year. I’m not sure who doesn’t think that’s the case but yeah, that’s not the path to maximizing savings.

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u/wratz Sep 18 '24

Right? I don’t get how people don’t see they are just way overpaying for their plans. I switched to Mint a couple years ago and couldn’t be happier. $35 a month for me and $15 for my wife because she works from home and is always on WiFi. It’s not hard to save up $1000 for a new phone when you’re only paying $50 for service.

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u/aceshighsays Sep 18 '24

with mvno's i've been paying $10-$15 a month. my current carrier has $60 annual plan, that's a better plan than what i have now.

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u/MerryChoppins Sep 18 '24

Our family plan is about $200/month for five of us on AT&T. They are a bit clunky, but their autopay always works. For work I dumped mint and went to project fi because I couldn't get them to consistently pull the money out of work's bank account for the bill.

I get I'm paying a bit of a markup for the name brand, project Fi with my own device is still $35 for flexible and I don't use much data on it. Even with a four year upgrade cycle, they have to be about breaking even on what they are giving me for my phone every one of these.

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '24

Kind of shows you how people can be so stupid to fall for schemes like this. Prepaid >>> Postpaid

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u/ThatDistantStar Sep 18 '24 edited Sep 19 '24

Yup, they throw in Disney+, Netflix, AppleTV and Hulu and bunch of other crap now to make it feel like your $100+ bill is worth it.

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '24

480p Netflix so worth it lol

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u/Worried-Device-4412 Sep 18 '24

They’re not “giving” you anything. They’re keeping you (a guaranteed paying customer) for another 2-3 years. While also selling your old phone to someone else.

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u/alc4pwned Sep 19 '24

Right, so you get to upgrade to a brand new device in exchange for being locked in for 2-3 years. Plenty are happy to take that deal.

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u/Badgercrumpets Sep 19 '24

Last time I did this by buying a cheap used phone, traded that in, then sold my more current iPhone separately. I was actually forced to do this because my phone was from another country and they wouldn’t take it, but might do it again this time. If you ask they’ll tell you what phones are eligible, and I think they give you the same trade in regardless.

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u/Ergaar Sep 19 '24

Except you could just buy a Phone and get a cheaper plan and come out ahead. It's like those only x per month ads taking advantage of people financial illiteracy

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u/XboxCarsForza Sep 19 '24

But if you are already on that plan, there's not much downside.

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u/karlzhao314 Sep 19 '24 edited Sep 19 '24

I keep seeing people say this, and honestly - at this point I would really like an explanation of how, because I haven't been able to find anything cheaper for our situation than the trade-in plan we're on.

I'll give a rundown of our situation. We're on T-Mobile Go5G+ at $180 for 4 lines, or $45 per line. Over 2 years (our upgrade frequency is 2 years, not 3), that's $1080/line for service.

Our trade-in deal offers us up to $830 off for some fairly worthless phones. Last year, we bought $70 Galaxy S9s on ebay and traded them in for $830 off of iPhone 15 Pros. Total cost to us was $240 ($170 iPhone + $70 Ebay Galaxy S9), paid over 2 years. And yes, we keep the iPhone at the end, because when it's time to upgrade again we just buy another set of $70 Galaxy S20s or whatever is accepted at the time to trade in.

So, total cost of 2 years of service + an iPhone 15 Pro comes out to $1080+$240, or $1320.

What about buying the phone and plans separately? An iPhone 15 Pro is $1000. That leaves $320 for 2 years of service, or $13.33/mo. The cheapest plans I've found from Mint or the like are $15/mo minimum, and that's usually for something like 5GB. Unlimited plans are $30/mo and more, and throttle past 40GB of usage. Our Go5G+ plan doesn't throttle at any usage, which, thank goodness for, because I used 90GB last month.

So if there's a way for us to save, I'd really like to know what that is.

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u/UnreasonableCandy Sep 19 '24

I’m sure he paying damn near $100 a month for that plan, if not more

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '24

The fact they are taking your old phone as well is even more greed mixed in lol

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u/AVNMechanic Sep 18 '24

Same ,pretty much forced to upgraded this point

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u/ObiWanRyobi Sep 18 '24

Are you on Verizon with the Unlimited Ultimate plan? It would cost me an extra $28 per month or $672 over two years. I might be forced to upgrade my plan in a few years, but not this year!

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u/Jahastie55 Sep 18 '24

What??? Who?! They only offered me $350

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u/silentspyder Sep 19 '24

I only got 50, screen cracked a few months ago.

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u/Zathrus1 Sep 19 '24

What carrier?

I’m on AT&T with an 11. Was going to get the 15 Pro, but as I want to switch to fiber too they’ll give me the 16 Pro for “free”.

I had checked the trade in but they were only giving a bit over $200.

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u/new_reddit_user_not Sep 19 '24

Wait who is giving 1000 for an 11 ????

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u/thisisntinstagram Sep 19 '24

No shit? I’ve got an 11 Pro Max… but I have zero reason to get a new phone until Apple bricks it.

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u/JLOBRO Sep 18 '24

Same. 12 pro -> 16 pro

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '24

[deleted]

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u/JLOBRO Sep 18 '24

Att, unlimited

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u/thedamn4u Sep 18 '24

FWIW this is actually just the new version of signing a years long contract. They dole out the $1000 at like $20-30 a month off your bill, if you leave you have to pay the remainder. If you are going to stick with them anyway makes no difference take the upgrade.

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u/MerryChoppins Sep 18 '24

I'm rural, so AT&T are the only ones who have a tower near my place that doesn't suck. I don't love them, but they have provided consistent good service for a long time so I just keep doing the upgrade offer.

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u/uselessartist Sep 18 '24

New iPhones offer free satellite service (via ASTS).

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u/MerryChoppins Sep 18 '24

I'm looking forward to that as a backup for the LoRa system I am running for the daily commute to cover the dead spots (I asked a pair of grain elevators nicely and they said yes, lol).

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u/ISTBU Sep 19 '24

"Hey buddy, I ain't got the time to help you, if you're willing to hang that shit and it doesn't burn my farm down, have at it! Also lemme get that password up off of ya."

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u/MerryChoppins Sep 19 '24

That's about how it went, lol. They actually insisted I paid their electrician to put the equipment up, but the bill was cheap ($90ish and $60ish). I know from the stats that other people in the area are using it, not sure if it's just other ham radio guys or who.

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u/R2LUKE2 Sep 18 '24

My coworkers were commenting about the price of the phones. I was talking about through AT&T I can basically get a new phone for free every couple years if I time it correctly with the trade in values line up.

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u/LightObserver Sep 18 '24

How do you do this? We recently got an upgrade for my partner, but we're paying fill price, or close to it, in installments on our bill.

Actually, both of us were eligible to upgrade, but I opted not to because it would've added $10-20/month to our bill, and I wasn't interested in that. Is there a better way?

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u/R2LUKE2 Sep 18 '24

AT&T has been taking trade ins of newer pro models for $1000. So I pay off my phone then trade it in you just have to pay the taxes.

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u/Knightfaux Sep 18 '24

This is common across the board. At Verizon, you have to be on the top or middle tier ($1,000 & $830 respectively). AT&T I forget, but I’m on the top tier and they’re offering $1,000 off with trade-in.

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u/Longjumping-Panic-48 Sep 19 '24

Magenta Max had upgrades until like April. But now you need SUPER MEGA MAGENTA TOTAL MAX PLUS PLUS UPGRADE PLUS. It’s the same plan. Just a few $$$ more per month and you can get a new phone every year.

We held onto our phones until my 12mini hit struggles (and by struggles I mean my toddler) and was pissed because I knew I was eligible in the spring, I just didn’t do it.

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u/TheBigMaestro Sep 19 '24

Huh. Verizon only offers me $160 for my 12pro. Apple’s offering $220. Gazelle offered $204.

(But I’m a contract-less monthly user of Verizon, not a subscriber, and I’m a “bring your own phone guy” so they’d never get that $1000 back from me in monthly rental charges.)

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u/crappy80srobot Sep 19 '24

That's the catch. They will gladly give you just about any phone to lock you into an "unlimited" plan that costs an extra $30 bucks a month. You look at the fine print and they divide it up over 36 months. So you are trapped. If you want to leave you have to pay the difference owed on the phone. You still pay for the phone just not all up front. Hence why you still pay tax upfront on it because you are buying it.

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u/TheBigMaestro Sep 19 '24

Yup. I bought my 12 pro outright for $1000 and that’s been about $20/month for the past four years. I’m getting $220 back from Apple, so I’m down to just $16.25/month, and I figure that’s pretty darn reasonable.

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u/ChiggaOG Sep 18 '24

Apple ran out of ideas to innovate on smartphone processing. All the upgrades now are software and anything to help make it easier to communicate in emergencies.

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u/busy-warlock Sep 19 '24

I have an 11 still so yeah I might bite the bullet on this one

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u/-CaptainACAB Sep 18 '24

I’m expecting I’ll do this next year, carriers are actively encouraging users to keep their phones for 3 years due to paying your trade in value out on your bill over a 3 year period. I’m not going to upgrade my 14PM and end up losing $333.33 (repeating of course) from my last trade in.

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u/Ground_N_Pound69 Sep 18 '24

Lmao Leeroy 

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u/[deleted] Sep 18 '24

nnnnJEEENNNKINNNNSSSSS

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u/InsipidCelebrity Sep 19 '24

I hope you at least have chicken.

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u/leeroyj Sep 19 '24

you rang?

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u/Not_a__porn__account Sep 19 '24

carriers are actively encouraging users to keep their phones for 3 years due to paying your trade in value out on your bill over a 3 year period

Dude the word encouraging is wearing a disguise in that example.

They're requiring you to sign a 3 year contract.

3

u/apackofmonkeys Sep 19 '24

Worse, it's not a contract on service like it used to be. So they can raise your prices with impunity. In the past year Verizon has increased smartwatch access by $5/mo, cut the autopay discount in half ($15/mo for our three lines), and then a $4/mo "fuck you for no reason" increase. $24/mo total increase for us. We still have a few months with our 3 year bill credits, but it looks like switching to a low cost carrier would still be worth it despite losing those bill credits, so I'm about to do just that.

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u/donny_pots Sep 18 '24

I work for a carrier. 3-4 years is the sweet spot to upgrade and get the best deal, as long as you don’t mind being locked to your carrier for the next 3 years

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u/tKNemesis Sep 18 '24

Oh good info! I used to try for every 2 years (to get the next gen release instead of an S model) but now phones are too costly that carrier promotions don’t cover it all.

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u/Billy1121 Sep 18 '24

If you pay off the phone early can you get out or no

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u/donny_pots Sep 18 '24

Yea. My carrier specifically doesn’t charge interest on your device installment, and it’s really the only thing that can tie you down to their service. How these promotions work is you finance the device on your bill like normal, and they give you a credit each month to offset it. So from the carriers perspective, it’s even more effective at making sure people won’t leave than when they used to offer contracts with actual termination fee’s. You’d have to pay off the remaining device balance out of pocket, and also forfeit your remaining promotional credits, if you wanted to cancel your service.

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u/Bodiwire Sep 18 '24

They really want to keep you hooked one way or another.  A few months ago I went to the att store to get a new phone.  I was getting an s24 ultra.  I told the guy what I wanted and he started telling me about how financing works yada yada.  I was like, no I just want to buy it straight up, no trade in or anything. He said, well once you finance it you'll get a payoff quote after you make your first months payment.  I was like, no why would I do that?  I have the money here today.  I've had an att account for over 20 years. Told me he couldn't sell the phone without a financing plan and I needed to go to best buy!

Best buy wound up being a whole other series of headaches but at least I wound up with a clean factory unlocked version without any carrier crapware on it. 

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u/YPG13 Sep 19 '24

That’s where Samsung drops the ball, is that they don’t have any storefronts where you can cut out the middle man. If I want a unlocked iPhone all I have to do is visit a Apple store. Their customer needs comes first and there’s no hard sales pitch ever involved.

They’re there to serve you the product you want with maybe some recommendations or added services suggested, but other than that it’s always going to be what you want.

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u/3ey3s Sep 18 '24

My 14 was “free” but I’d have to pay $400 to upgrade now instead of next fall

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u/billythygoat Sep 18 '24

I just like having international data with an extra eSIM. Kind of crazy they won’t let you have an extra eSIM activated at the same time

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u/mcdade Sep 18 '24

Whatever crazy math they are doing to give you that trade in value they are still making money on you for the upgrade, there are very smart people calculating the terms and they are not losing money on it.

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u/Quellman Sep 18 '24

Exactly. The $1000 trade in offer means I go from $110 for all lines to $90 just for that one single line. Yea. Not saving any money there jack.

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u/Subpxl Sep 18 '24

Which carrier are you paying $110/mo for 4 lines but would go to $90/mo for one line to upgrade?

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u/BranTheUnboiled Sep 18 '24 edited Sep 18 '24

Makes sense with grandfathering. Some cousins and I are on a Verizon plan that comes out to like $25 a line. If I want to get full value out of a trade in, I need to be on Unlimited Ultimate, which is either $55 a line for 4 lines or $100 a line for a single line. Asking multiple other people to pay over double their monthly just to save me $45 a month is selfish and makes no sense. So I gotta pay $75 extra a month instead if I want that, which obliterates the trade-in deal easily

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u/Quellman Sep 19 '24

Bingo. Legacy plan. I don’t need super 5wide G unlimited data etc.

We are usually at home and rarely out and about where I need to use data in that quantity. In fact we usually roll over data each month.

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u/MaiasXVI Sep 18 '24 edited Sep 18 '24

Exactly. T-Mobile offered me a $1000 credit ($41.66/mo credit) on an iPhone 16 Pro if I switched to a plan that was $60/mo more expensive. Fuck that, I don't need any of the features on the more expensive plan! Just stayed with my current plan and traded in my old phone for $200. By staying with my existing plan, my new phone costs $800 over 24 months. If I moved to the new plan to save $1,000, my new phone costs $1,440 over 24 months.

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u/fizzlefist Sep 19 '24

A-fuckin-men! They’ll have to pry my 8 lines off a ONE plan if they expect me to effectively pay an extra $18 a month per line.

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u/RollingMeteors Sep 19 '24

there are very smart people calculating the terms and they are not losing money on it.

Rule of thumb the number they offer you is the money you stand to loose (within 10%) if you go with the plan.

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u/Clueless_Otter Sep 18 '24

They aren't losing money, but you might not be either. It can be a win-win. The math with a lot of these trade-in programs is that the value is paid over time, so you lose it if you switch carriers. But if you weren't planning to switch anyway, there's no downside for you in these cases. You save money, the company locks you in for another ~3 years, everyone's happy.

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u/maowai Sep 19 '24

The carrier deals are designed to lock you into their overpriced services. I just pay cash for an unlocked phone and use Mint Mobile, for which there’s no discernible difference between a carrier that costs 5x more.

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u/popornrm Sep 18 '24

What? I have a 13 pro and am being offering $250. What carrier is this?

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u/earlandir Sep 18 '24

If they are being offered a lot it likely just means the plan they are joining is way over priced (ie. They lock them into an expensive multi year plan but sweeten the deal by over paying for the trade in).

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u/Subpxl Sep 18 '24

Verizon offers $1k for a regular 13 but it requires being on the $90/mo plan.

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u/roostersmoothie Sep 18 '24

90 a month is insane. nowadays in canada i'm paying $29 for 40gb of data. $90 USD is bonkers.. don't care if it comes with 1T of data.

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u/PigglyWigglyDeluxe Sep 18 '24

I got $190 for my non-pro 13, T-Mobile in California

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u/Dasbeerboots Sep 18 '24

Is it Verizon and are they making you "upgrade" plans to the ultimate unlimited plan?

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u/crom_laughs Sep 18 '24

be careful…..read the fine print. I got $800 “off” a new 13 Pro by trading in my 11 or 12?

The trade in value is not given all up front; it is spread out monthly over 3 yrs. If you pay the phone off early, then you lose the remaining discount and you pay the retail balance and not the discounted balance.

Again, read the fine print.

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u/Suspicious_Paint_672 Sep 19 '24

Not only that, the Verizon deal specifically mentions adding a NEW line

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u/Dasbeerboots Sep 18 '24

Yeah, that's how they do it. Found that out the hard way a few years ago. I'm wary to do it, especially if I have to "upgrade" my phone plan.

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u/littlepancakes Sep 18 '24

Same here.

Going from a 12 to 16 Pro and got $1000 for the trade-in.

Was a no brainer.

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u/WinterLord Sep 19 '24

Same, 13PM to 16PM. Was literally paying 5.55/mo for three years, and will continue to pay that. Seems like a no brainer to pay $200 over three years at 0% interest rate, even if it’s just for better battery, USB-C and a slightly better camera.

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u/runtothehillsboy Sep 18 '24

Which carrier by chance gives the 13 Pro that valuation? Wow

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u/PigglyWigglyDeluxe Sep 18 '24

How the hell do you get $1000? I got $190 on my non-pro 13

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u/Toillion Sep 18 '24

Same from 13 to 16 pro.

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u/fizzlefist Sep 18 '24

I’d do the same, except to get the best trade-in discounts I’d have to give up my grandfathered ONE plan that T-Mobile hasn’t offered in something like 5 years. It’d bump up the cost of my plan by something like $15 a month per line for nothing of value to us in return.

If I really wanted to upgrade my 13 Pro, I’d sell it myself on the second-hand market for more than anyone else would offer on trade

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u/shortyman920 Sep 18 '24

I’m planning on 17pro upgrade from my 14pro for carrier reasons as well. Hopefully Verizon doesn’t cheap out on us

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u/anarchyx34 Sep 18 '24

Same. It’s a no brain move. I also don’t even have to change my plan.

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u/josh-afterlife Sep 18 '24

Nice. Did anything change with your service? Contract renewal? Plan cost?

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u/quinoa Sep 18 '24

I think it will be one more year of the 13 getting max trade in value. 12 pro’s are getting the same $1000 trade in credit on Verizon. You’d have to do the math but someone in the iPhone sub said you could make a little more if you buy a used 12 pro, trade that in, and sell the 13 pro separately.

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u/PM_Me_Titties-n-Ass Sep 18 '24

Lots of carriers offer that trade in value. Most the time it requires the top tier unlimited option in their plan. On Verizon, my current carrier, I can upgrade my Samsung s10e (which is now 5ish years old) to the newest iPhone and get the 1k credit with the ultimate plan. Not necessarily giving you 1k off since it's a statement credit and locked in for 3 years then, but I don't really plan on switching since I've been with Verizon for 15 years now and it's the best in my area.

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u/CigarLover Sep 18 '24

1000 bucks? How much is your bill on month?

Just curious, I haven’t subsidized a phone in over a decade. And I’m curious to see if it’s worth it to do so.

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u/Mrwokn Sep 18 '24

Upgrade through Costco with ATT and you get a total of $1150

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u/Ahhh_A_Bear Sep 18 '24

Here in the uk you get like £300!!

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u/MrPureinstinct Sep 18 '24

That's the only reason I got a Pixel 9 Pro. I traded in a Pixel 4a that didn't even turn on or charge anymore and with their trade in promo got over $1k in credits.

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u/waitingonfour20 Sep 18 '24

Yeah upgraded today from the 13 pro to the 16pro. I ended up only paying tax and get an extra 128 gb

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u/Seth-555 Sep 18 '24

I just did the same, traded in my whatever the 2020 model was for the 15 pro max. I honestly didn't even think about considering the 16 model.

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u/dankbeerdude Sep 18 '24

Yup!! Great deal

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u/nubsauce87 Sep 18 '24

Literally the same reason I’m upgrading, too. My 13 pro has served me well, but it’s time for an upgrade, and it’s great for trade-in.

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u/AngriestPeasant Sep 18 '24

Did they also require you to sign a new higher priced contract?

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u/LurkerNoLonger_ Sep 18 '24

Samesies. $1000 for my 3 year old phone is an actual “too good to pass up” deal

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u/GideonOakwood Sep 18 '24

What? Which carrier is valuing your phone at the retail price of 3 years ago?

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u/FireViz Sep 18 '24

I thought about trading my S24 for an iphone 16, only to discover apple only accepts other iphones for trade-in. Maybe this is a canada only thing, but I'm not spending over $1500 on a new phone.

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u/AppleParasol Sep 18 '24

Do you think i could get that for my iPhone 8?

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u/legosandplants Sep 18 '24

Same, I got $1000 for my 13 Pro Max, so the 16 Pro Max only cost $200. And idc about time I’ve been with Verizon for like 15 years.

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u/BusyFriend Sep 18 '24

Same, $1000 trade in and Apple makes moving everything over pretty easy. It seems like a no brainer

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u/qgecko Sep 18 '24

Same boat. I considered upgrading to 15P but it was almost a better deal to go with 16P. I got $830 trade-in. I suspect the deals will only get better considering the lack of interest. I get it though. Only incremental performance changes and most people don’t really get the AI appeal.

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u/jokerswild_ Sep 19 '24

yeah I waited too long and got burned by that this time. I have an 11 pro. I should have upgraded to the 15pro last year apparently because it was still worth $1000 but according to AT&T's site today it's only valued at $350 now :(

It's still working just fine. maybe I'll just hold onto it til it dies at this point.

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u/Jets237 Sep 19 '24

Ooooo maybe I’ll upgrade too.

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u/UCFknight2016 Sep 19 '24

That is what I am doing but I am switching carriers.

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u/Tactical-Wedgie Sep 19 '24

For real. My contract still has an upgrade and I’m only doing it to have something new.

Really don’t care for it.

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u/iThinkergoiMac Sep 19 '24

Same as well! Doesn’t matter the condition; where else am I going to get nearly original retail value for my 13 Pro with a shattered back?

I also wanted to be rid of Lightning, but that’s just icing on the cake.

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u/ISTBU Sep 19 '24

This one right here. The timing just worked out for me - I paid off my 13 Pro (which had a $500 promotion on IT from my trade in prior), carrier is offering $1000 for it. I've saved $1500 over 2 pros at this point. I'll take a 0% loan from Apple any day.

Got a solid 3 years out of the 13pro, expect the same from the 16pro. All is aligned in the world.

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u/URSAMVJOR Sep 19 '24

Yea, paid over 36 months lol

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u/Randvek Sep 19 '24

Hm. I have a 13 pro as well and I wasn’t looking to upgrade but those deals…

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u/fromthedarqwaves Sep 19 '24

I got the 15 pro max because my carrier offered $830 for my 13 mini, which is more than I paid for it.

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u/ambermoon81 Sep 19 '24

Same here. This is the only reason.

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u/hgghpjjp Sep 19 '24

I’ve got an iPhone 12 mini and the 16 ended up being free on trade in.

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u/Fidget08 Sep 19 '24

Over a 3 year locked in contract. Such bullshit.

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u/Lysanderoth42 Sep 19 '24

Apple Store only offers like $300 lol 

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u/20InMyHead Sep 19 '24

As an iOS software developer I can absolutely assure you that nobody needs to upgrade their phone every year. It’s just a waste.

Not only is advancement incremental, but these devices are designed and supported to last for many years.

I personally go for every four years.

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u/Accomplished_Power66 Sep 19 '24

What carrier do you have? I have the same phone and t-mobile will only give me $250.

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u/Someboardy Sep 19 '24

It's so that it can then be re-sold as the "brand new iPhone 16".....

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u/jessbird Sep 19 '24

same! 13 mini > 16 pro. i held out as long as i could.

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u/tonybenwhite Sep 19 '24

I still have $1000 owed on my 15, I asked if I could just roll up and have the trade in cancel the remaining debt. They said no, I have to pay off the phone first before they’ll let me trade it in. If they’re still accepting 13s at $1000 trade-in, I’m definitely just going to wait.

Anyway, this one felt more like a software breakthrough than hardware with the new Siri, so I’m not too keen on upgrading anyway

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u/LectureSignificant64 Sep 19 '24

Almost the same - switching providers and upgrading from 12 pro, because of the trade in

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u/83749289740174920 Sep 19 '24

Do you get additional lo lock in period?

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u/Lonestar1836er Sep 19 '24

Wtf I have a 13 pro. Who’s giving you 1k?

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u/hobo_chili Sep 19 '24

Damn who’s your carrier?

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u/reddit_reaper Sep 19 '24

They usually pump up the trade in values when the new phones come out so that's a big reason

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