--- title: A Month After the Death of Phone Upgrades, They're Suddenly Back description: Following T-Mobile and Sprint, the new program would allow customers to trade in their iPhones for the new version for free. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Technology - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2015-09-25T17:49:37.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T06:57:12.000Z' section: Technology tags: - cell phones - mobile phones word_count: 311 canonical: https://money.com/verizon-mobile-free-upgrades-are-back/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![150925_EM_VZUpgrades](https://img.money.com/2015/09/150925_em_vzupgrades.jpg) *Guests gather outside of the new Verizon Wireless Destination Store to celebrate the Grand Opening on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA on July 18, 2015.* Last month, "free upgrades" were dead, swept into the dustbin of gadget history [along with the two-year service contract](https://money.com/verizon-2015-mobile-cell-phone-no-contract/). Without the ability to lock in customers, phone companies couldn't justify subsidizing such a large portion of a phone's cost. But the extremely fickle wireless industry appears to have pulled a full 180, as the fierce competition for customers has brought back device subsidies. The carrier wars are in full swing and phone subsidies continue to be a formidable weapon. This week T-Mobile announced a device leasing option that allowed people trading in older phones to get an iPhone 6s for as little as $5 per month. Sprint fired back with $1 per month leasing plan for the new device, which includes a yearly upgrade when the new model comes out. Now, Verizon has released its own way to keep users on the newest devices, allowing customers who have paid off at least half the cost of their phone to upgrade to the newest device when it comes out. A new iPhone typically comes out every year, and a typical Verizon financing plan is two years. Considering an iPhone 6 16 GB model has a trade-in value of [up to about $350](https://www.gazelle.com/iphone/iphone-6/verizon/iphone-6-16gb-verizon/495684-gpid), Verizon is willing to subsidize a significant part of the cost of a new phone—around $300, since a new iPhone starts at $649. This isn't quite the $450 "on contract" discount, but it's competitive, and arguably a legit reason for customers not to hop from carrier to carrier. However, carrier hopping isn't something Verizon seems so worried about. Despite jumping into fray of carriers warring over who can provide consumers with the cheapest iPhone 6s, America's largest carrier is [touting its network quality and coverage](https://twitter.com/verizon/status/647175842552909825) more than its device access. **READ NEXT: [The Best Cellphone Plans of 2015](https://money.com/best-cellphone-plans-2015/)** and **[Here’s How to Figure Out How Much Cellphone Data You Need](https://money.com/cellular-data/)** ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/verizon-mobile-free-upgrades-are-back/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Technology", "item": "https://money.com/technology/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Fintech", "item": "https://money.com/fintech/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A Month After the Death of Phone Upgrades, They're Suddenly Back" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/verizon-mobile-free-upgrades-are-back/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/verizon-mobile-free-upgrades-are-back/", "name": "A Month After the Death of Phone Upgrades, They're Suddenly Back", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-09-25T17:49:37.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/verizon-mobile-free-upgrades-are-back/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/verizon-mobile-free-upgrades-are-back/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T06:57:12.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "A Month After the Death of Phone Upgrades, They're Suddenly Back", "articleSection": "Technology", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/09/150925_em_vzupgrades.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1400, "caption": "150925_EM_VZUpgrades" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ethan Wolff-Mann", "url": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/ewolffmann" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-09-25T17:49:37.000Z", "description": "Following T-Mobile and Sprint, the new program would allow customers to trade in their iPhones for the new version for free.", "abstract": "Following T-Mobile and Sprint, the new program would allow customers to trade in their iPhones for the new version for free.", "@id": "https://money.com/verizon-mobile-free-upgrades-are-back/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T06:57:12.000Z", "wordCount": 311, "keywords": [ "cell phones", "mobile phones" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Technology", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Financial technology", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_technology" ] } ] } ] } ```