Which Cell Phone Providers Are Offering a Free (or Nearly Free) iPhone 17e?
· Vice
Free smartphones are a worm on a hook for customers shopping for new cellular providers. All of the Big Three—Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T—and a bunch of the smaller carriers make these sorts of offers constantly. Often they unload one-generation-old premium phones. Almost always they require you to trade in some kind of device.
Each of the Big Three have peppered us with news that they’re offering what turns out to be the same deal: Sign up for a new cellular plan, get a new iPhone 17e—Apple’s still-most-current budget iPhone—without having to trade in any device at all. Just sign up, get it, and start using it right away. Like any free deal, there are a few catches.
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some are more ‘free’ than others
The deal is for the base iPhone 17e with 256 GB of storage. That’s plenty for most people, honestly. Even on my old, trusty iPhone 15 Pro I only have 256 GB, and I’ve never wanted more. But power users, such as those who take a truly ludicrous number of videos and photos, can upgrade to the 512 GB version.
- Verizon won’t fully subsidize your grab at luxury. You’ll have to pay the difference, but it only works out to $5.55 per month, so you’re still getting a deal.
- T-Mobile, though, offers the 512 GB version for the same $0 per month as the 256 GB, so it’d be silly not to choose it. T-Mobile has the best deal of the Big Three carriers, hands down.
- AT&T’s deal is the weakest of the three, but still doable. The iPhone 17e, in this case, isn’t fully free but instead deeply discounted. You end up paying $6 per month for the 256 GB version or $12 per month for the 512 GB version.
If you choose Verizon or AT&T, you have to stick with your new carrier for 36 months. If you leave early, they’ll charge you the remaining amount. It’s pro-rated, so if you leave after 29 months, they’ll charge you seven monthly payments’ worth of the remaining balance on your iPhone 17e.
Same deal for T-Mobile, although your term of enlistment is only 24 months. Leave early, and you’re on the hook for the remaining monthly payments. You’re kind of a hostage in this situation, regardless of which cellular provider you choose, although it’s more like visiting the home of a person you don’t like very much for Thanksgiving. You come for the free meal, but it’s part of the bargain that in order to get it, you can’t leave early.
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