The new iPhone 7 was released last week and since Tim Cook announced it would be available for pre-sale this month everyone is already organizing their savings to run and purchase the newest and expensive iPhone model. Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T are offering promotions where you could get a free iPhone 7.
This is not the first time those companies offer plans where the customer can receive a “free” smartphone by signing individual contracts with the telecommunications provider.
How does it work?
In most cases, it is required that the customer turns in an equally high-level phone to pay -in part- the new iPhone. An iPhone 6 or 6S, or even a Galaxy S7, will part of the payment deal, but this “old” phones must be in good conditions.
Additional to this trade, the customer must sign a contract of two years with that carrier, which means the phone can only work with that company for at least two years to fully enjoy the “free” iPhone. If the customer decided to cancel the service in that period will have to turn in the phone or pay for it -its full price- depending on the policy of the carrier.
AT&T and Verizon, for example, won’t receive the phone back but only the payment of its full price minus the amount of money credited with the monthly bills. In the case of T-Mobile and Sprint, the customer can turn back the phone.
Some other details about these offers
It is important to consider that the phone initially turned in by the client as partial payment will never be returned to the customer, so if they decide to cancel the service within the two years of the contract will lose both phones, the old smartphone, and the iPhone.
The iPhone 7 received will be the less expensive of the series, this means the customer will receive the 32GB storage version. It is possible to get an iPhone with more storage but in that case; the customer will have to pay extra cash to cover the difference.
Why do they do this?
Every time Apple releases a new phone device, carriers discover there is a huge market willing to participate in any plan to get the smartphone, so this trend in the market opens the opportunity to those companies to get a lot of new customers.
Besides getting new customers, the companies find a chance to lock the “customer’s loyalty” in a long-term contract that assures at least for two years a considerable amount of users of their services.
Apple is also interested in this kind of deals since it promotes to their customers to upgrade to the iPhone 7 and convinces non-iPhone users to join the Apple family finally.
About the iPhone 7
The newest Apple smartphone will be available on September 16, and includes some new features like being waterproof and a new Home button. The new headphones are also part of the major innovations.
“iPhone 7 dramatically improves the most important aspects of the iPhone experience. It introduces advanced new camera systems. The best performance and battery life ever in an iPhone. Immersive stereo speakers. The brightest, most colorful iPhone display. Splash and water resistance. And it looks every bit as powerful as it is,” is what Apple said about its newest product.
Source: The Verge