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How to get the best deal on a new iPhone

Posted at 10:55 AM, Sep 25, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-25 10:55:34-04

The iPhone 6S is finally here. But it’s price — $650 –is something most of us can’t afford. And Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile no longer offer new iPhones for $199 with 2-year contract,  which means you either have to pay full fare or get it on an installment plan.

However, if you are willing to buy an older phone or switch carriers, you can now get some incredible deals.

The new iPhone 6S will cost you $27 to $30 a month at most carriers on installment.  It might not sound like a lot, but that’s $650 over 2 years. And that’s on top of your monthly voice and data fees.

But smaller carriers, desperate to lure in new carriers, are offering some of the best deals.

  • Sprint has just rolled out a $1 a month installment plan for the new 6S as part of its “iPhone Forever” package.
  • T-Mobile’s has their “Jump on Demand” deal, announced just a day earlier for $5 a month.

But here’s the catch: Both  require you to trade in last year’s iPhone 6, so you need to have a an iPhone 6 to get the 6S at such a low price.

If you are trading in an iPhone 5 or 5S, Sprint and T-Mobile are still offering lower prices than AT&T or Verizon, around $10 a month for a new phone, depending on your trade-in.

So those are the lowest prices of major carriers for an iPhone 6S.

Let’s say you are running an ancient iPhone 4S that no one wants, or an old Android phone. This is still a great time to upgrade to an iPhone. Any iPhone.

  • The best deal with no trade-in is to buy an older iPhone 5S, which is $10 a month at most carriers.
  • An iPhone 5S is FREE with two-year contact at AT&T, one of the last carriers to still offer contracts.

If you just want a bigger phone, face it: The new iPhone 6S doesn’t look any different from the iPhone 6. But the iPhone 6 is now at half price, $99 with contract at AT&T, with similar markdowns on installment plans.

So if you upgrade to last year’s iPhone 6 from an older iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, or or iPhone 5S, you’ll  have  a bigger iPhone for much less than the shiny new 6S,  and you won’t waste your money.