The introduction of the new Apple iPhone 15 and its siblings once again brought with it a spate of offers from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon that appear to offer the latest iPhone for free.
Last year, offers such as “Get the new iPhone 14 Pro On Us” abounded. It’s important to note that he phrase “on us” implies something that’s not confirmed in the fine print. That something is “free.”
If you are at a restaurant and the waiter is trying to make up for a small mistake or you are a regular customer, he might say “dessert will be on us.” That signifies that there will be no charge on the bill for dessert. Other industries use this phraseology as well: Recently I saw an advert for an accounting system that ran “Make the Switch: Your first 3 months of Company X Payroll are on us ..”
Apparently when T-Mobile says it, what it really means is that it will allow the buyer the dubious honor of using his current iPhone as a trade-in. Whatever the trade-in value turns out to be will determine the “on us” credit amount.
Indeed, T-Mobile has taken this to new heights with the headline that screams, “iPhone 15—Get 4 ON US.”
In the fine print, T-Mobile does become truthful, and even gives examples of trade-in values, although these may vary based on the condition of the phone being traded in, to wit: “[Q]ualifying credit, service, & trade-in (e.g., Save $830: iPhone 11/Save $415: iPhone 7) required.”
AT&T is seems to have read our previous stories on this topic and its website clearly distinguishes between offers that do require a trade-in and that do not.
Verizon Wireless is a bit more honest in its approach, although the headline still carries the mantra in the manner of what’s referred to as “clickbait” on blogs by writers who are peddling everything from credit cards to travel deals. “Introducing new iPhone 15 – Get iPhone 15 on us.” Should we be thankful that the company at least did not initial cap “on us”?
Once you click on the clickbait, the offer becomes a bit more clear: “Get iPhone 15 on us with eligible phone trade-in & select Unlimited plans.” Indeed, it was fairly similar to last year’s text: “Get iPhone 14 Pro 128GB on us” the web page read, followed by “W/select trade-in and select Biz Unlimited [plan].” Apparently spelling out the word “with” would cost extra.
So no, Virginia, as we’ve previously noted, there is no iPhone “on us.” In fact, taking advantage of any of these offers might raise the cost of the purchase because it’s quite likely the buyer could get more for his old phone on eBay than as a trade-in.
Just as there’s no free lunch, a phrase that dates back to at least 1942 when used by American political journalist Paul Mallon, there’s also no free iPhone, at least not for the latest and greatest ones.
Ask any economist or accountant: If you transfer a cost from one method of payment and currency (dollars or euros, for example) to another (the value of a used iPhone), the core value doesn’t change.
Finally, be aware that mobile operators often require customers who want the best “on us” deal to sign up for the most costly monthly service.
What savvy buyers can do, beyond ignoring the somewhat misleading “free” offers, is to pay for the phone and make sure to select a monthly plan that doesn’t break the bank. Yes, T-Mobile’s family of Go5G plans includes numerous freebies which are actually “on us” including a basic Netflix subscription, a free Apple TV+ plan, in-flight Wi-Fi, and 5 GB of high-speed data when roaming internationally. If you don’t need all of these benefits, a more basic plan that will substantially lower costs is in order.
Jonathan Spira contributed reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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