T-Mobile just trumped Apple's new iPhone upgrade plan by offering its own at just $20 per month
At Apple's big iPhone reveal event Wednesday, Apple unveiled a new upgrade plan, which will let people pay a base rate of $32 a month for an unlocked iPhone 6S with Applecare Plus. On this plan, you'll own your iPhone after 24 months, but you also have the option to trade it in for a new model every year. This restarts the timer, but lets you always have the latest model. If you choose to upgrade every year, the plan works more or less like a lease.
But not to be outdone, T-Mobile, the feisty smaller player in the American wireless service market, has released a much better iPhone deal (price wise) on its Jump plan. You'll be able to pay $20 per month for 18 months on the plan for an iPhone 6S, and be able to upgrade whenever you want to a brand new phone (up to 3 times a year). And at the close of the 18 months, you can either give the phone back and wash your hands, or you can pay an extra $164 (for the iPhone 6S) to walk away with it.
As Gizmodo points out, all the different periods and trade-in options can be quite confusing, so here is the total price breakdown for each plan:
- A 16 GB iPhone 6S is $524 total from T-Mobile
- A 16 GB iPhone 6S is $777 total from Apple
Of course, if you go the T-Mobile route you are stuck with its network, and don't get Applecare Plus.
And bear in mind that with both plans you will have to pay extra if you want more than 16 GB of memory, which my colleague Steve Kovach assures us you are definitely going to need.