Quote:
Originally Posted by HotHotHeat
Because of the typically high resale value that iPhones have, making the one time investment to buy one outright essentially puts you in a position where you can upgrade to the new hardware at/near launch for $100-200. Even with the 4S coming out this week, you will still find a market for people to pay upwards of $500 for a used 4 that is in good shape.
... Just my thoughts.
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Although I know people do it, I have no idea why anyone would pay that much for a used phone. The life of the phones is barely over two years. You're essentially paying 75% of the price for a used phone, with last years technology, that is only going to last you 50% of the life of the phone.
Back to contracts, in my opinion, if you are going to have a phone for 3 years, you might as well get a free phone. The companies probably won't help you out if your phone breaks in the first 2 years (unless you are a big spender). So if your phone breaks, you are going to have to buy one...but guess what, without a contract you have to buy one outright anyways.
Right now the techonology is so good, that even the lower end smart phones can be descent.
My advice, sign the contract, get the cheap phone. If it breaks/gets lost/stolen, buy a replacement android phone for $100-200 to limp through your contract until the 2 year mark, at which point you will be able to upgrade and sign a new contract.
Also, with the IPhones, you are saving as much as $400-500 off the cost of a phone, and sometimes more. What is the cost of that vs. the cost of the buyout on the contract and the odds you will actually want to buyout?