Apple Drastically Changes How You Buy a New iPhone 6

dimanche 7 juin 2015

Apple Drastically Changes How You Buy a New iPhone 6 is a post by Josh Smith from Gotta Be Mobile.

Apple no longer offers a two-year contract for the iPhone 6 on one of the biggest carriers in the United States.

As part of Apple’s new plan to sell you an iPhone 6, which will likely carry over to the iPhone 6s release this fall, you will not pay anything up front for your iPhone and it is now easier to upgrade to a new iPhone sooner.

Even if you plan to wait for the iPhone 6s release this fall, there is a major change underway. Buyers who plan to go to an Apple Store or order an iPhone 6s from the Apple Store late at night when a new iPhone goes on sale will need to pay for the iPhone on a payment plan or at full price, instead of enjoying a $450 discount.

The new plan options mean that buyers who want an AT&T iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus can no longer buy the new iPhone for $199 or $299 on a two-year contract at the Apple Store online and this change may soon come to physical Apple Stores as well.

Buying the iPhone 6 at the Apple Store Online is vastly different than a week ago.

Instead of paying $199 for a 16GB iPhone 6 on AT&T, shoppers who choose to buy a new iPhone 6 from Apple must instead make a monthly payment for the iPhone of around $21.64 a month. The amount goes up slightly for the iPhone 6 Plus to $24.97 a month and extra storage is also more expensive.

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With this new way to buy the iPhone 6 at an Apple Store buyers no longer enjoy a subsidized iPhone 6 that is just $199 on a contract, but there is no cellular contract to deal with anymore. This means users can upgrade faster and it also includes a discount on the data plan of $15 to $25 a month. This discount makes up for the lack of a subsidy in most cases.

Currently Apple still offers the two-year contract option for Verizon and Sprint, with new iPhone 6 units starting at $199 on contract. Verizon and Sprint both offer payment plan options similar to the AT&T Next service, so it is possible that Apple will soon make this change for those carriers as well. T-Mobile offers carrier financing for the iPhone 6, but Apple only sells the T-Mobile iPhone 6 in the Apple Store at full price.

Here’s what you need to know about buying an iPhone 6 from the online Apple Store on AT&T.

Best Buy also changed offerings, pushing the AT&T iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to the bottom of listings and switching from a two-year contract model to a monthly payment model as well. Best Buy still sells the iPhone 6 on Sprint and Verizon on contract.

AT&T Next isn’t a new plan, but it may be new to many users looking to buy their first iPhone in two years. Instead of signing a contract for service, shoppers agree to pay for the full price of the phone split out over 20 to 30 monthly payments. For a 16 GB iPhone 6, the payments are broken out in the list below.

AT&T Next 12 – $21.64 a month for 30 months – early upgrade in 24 months
AT&T Next 18 – $27.05 a month for 24 months – early upgrade in 18 months
AT&T Next 24 – $32.45 a month for 20 months – early upgrade in 12 months

With some of these plans you can upgrade earlier than on a typical plan. Although AT&T often advertises this as a $0 down plan, when you purchase from Apple the full tax on a $649 or higher iPhone 6 purchase is due, so you cannot get out of the store without making any payment.

You still get a benefit with this payment plan. If you use less than 10GB data month you save $15 on your data plan portion for each line on AT&T Next. If you pay for a plan with more than 10GB of data you get a $25 discount on that line. In some cases this almost equals out to a free iPhone after you factor in the $21.64 monthly payment and the $25 discount. Granted, you are still paying for the phone, but the discount sweetens the deal for some users.

AT&T still sells the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus on a two-year contract through AT&T and AT&T Stores. The table below outlines the difference between AT&T Next vs AT&T two-year contracts at various plan prices.

AT&T Plan	Due at Purchase	Activation Fee	Next 24 Payments	Monthly Service	Total Cost 1st Year	Total Cost Two Years/ End of Payments
AT&T Contract, 2GB Mobile Share Value	$199.99	$40	$0	$65	$1,020	$1,800
AT&T Next 24, 3GB Mobile Share Value	$0	$0	$21.64	$50	$860	$1,849
AT&T Contract, 3GB Mobile Share Value	$199.99	$40	$0.00	$80	$1,200	$2,160
AT&T Next 24, 3GB Mobile Share Value	$0	$0	$21.64	$65	$1,040	$2,209
AT&T Contract, 6GB Mobile Share Value	$199.99	$40	$0	$110	$1,560	$2,880
AT&T Next 24, 6GB Mobile Share Value	$0	$0	$21.64	$95	$1,400	$2,929
AT&T Contract, 10GB Mobile Share Value	$199.99	$40	$0.00	$140	$1,920	$3,600
AT&T Next 24, 10GB Mobile Share Value	$0	$0	$21.64	$115	$1,640	$3,409

In many cases users come out ahead with the new AT&T Next plans, paying less overall after two years, and even after 30 months with the Next 24 plans that require 30 payments and an option to upgrade after 24 months.

If you plan to wait for the iPhone 6s release, you can count on similar pricing from AT&T at the Apple Store and possibly also on Verizon models. Check out the most important iPhone 6s rumors in the slideshow below.

15 Important iPhone 6s Rumors

iPhone 6s Release Date

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We know Apple plans an event for June 2015, but this is not where you should expect to hear about the iPhone 6s at this event. WWDC 2015 will more than likely focus on iOS 9 and a new version of OS X for Mac.

Expect an iPhone 6s announcement in fall 2015 at a special event dedicated to the iPhone, and possibly the iPod touch.

The last four iPhone release dates took place in a span of 30 days from late September to mid-October and we expect the iPhone 6s release date will arrive in a similar time. A best guess would be that the iPhone 6s release date will come on September 18th or September 25th, based on historical data only.