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Looking to save hundreds of dollars on a new iPhone?
It’s actually very easy. So easy, in fact, that it’s weird so many people are paying through the nose instead. (Don’t get me started).
Here’s how you do it.
Don’t buy a subsidized iPhone with a two-year contract with AT&T T, +0.59% or Verizon VZ, +0.75% or Sprint S, +0.00% or T-Mobile TMUS, -1.38% . Instead, buy an iPhone from Apple AAPL, +1.41% completely “unlocked,” meaning it comes without any cellular contract and you have to go find a cellular provider on your own.
Then, sign up with one of the inexpensive “mobile virtual network operators,” cut-price networks which simply resell airtime on the major networks at a discount.
The savings from this maneuver can be immense. That’s because when you buy an iPhone with a contract, the initial subsidy on the phone is such a false economy, creating the illusion that you’re saving.
As so often: Do the math.
A 16 gigabyte iPhone 6 with a two-year contract costs $199 at the Apple store.
A monthly contract with unlimited voice and texting and 1 GB of data costs $65 to $80 a month, depending on the network, according to Apple’s store. Getting 2 GB a month will cost $80 a month or more.
Total cost over two years: at least $1,759 (assuming a low-priced one-gig data plan, and not counting taxes, activation fees and so forth).
Now try it the other way.
How good were Apple's numbers?
Apple's fiscal fourth quarter earnings show the iPhone carrying its weight once again, while the iPad continues to lose steam.
