ASSOCIATED PRESS: The largest wireless provider in America will charge full retail price for smartphones.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The largest wireless provider in America will charge full retail price for smartphones.
All wireless carriers have been trying to wean customers off subsidies, in which a $649 iPhone 6 goes for $200 with a two-year contract. Instead, carriers have been encouraging people to buy phones outright by paying the full retail price in monthly installments. A few carriers, namely Sprint, also offer leasing options for a lower monthly fee, but the customer doesn’t get to keep and resell the phone without additional payments. Verizon is the second national carrier, after T-Mobile, to end subsidies entirely for new customers.
Existing customers will be able to keep current plans. Verizon says there will be restrictions, but it didn’t elaborate. For instance, it wasn’t immediately clear whether customers keeping the current plan will still qualify for subsidized phones.
