The new iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are on display during launch day on Oct. 23 in London.
I got an email from a reader asking about an offer from AT&T for a free iPhone 12. She wanted to know if there was a catch.
She already has an iPhone 8 Plus from AT&T on an unlimited plan, and she lives in a rural area, so her cellphone is her only internet service at home.
“Really, we all know that they are not giving these phones away, but I can’t seem to find out what it is going to cost me to trade up,” she said. “I don’t need a new phone, but I will be kicking myself if this is a great deal and I don’t take advantage of it.”
This is a good time to be a cellphone customer, as all three major carriers — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile (Sprint) — are offering deals right now for free or reduced-price iPhone 12s. There are some differences in the offers, but they are mostly the same.
If you sign up for one of their high-dollar plans (usually an unlimited plan) and you have a relatively new phone to trade in, you can get an iPhone 12 for free.
All three companies want to keep you as a customer for as long as they can. You have to stay on that nice, fat unlimited plan for the duration of the agreement.
On AT&T, what you are doing is buying that iPhone 12 on a 30-month installment plan, and the phone company will then credit your bill for the installment amount for each of those 30 months.
So you will end up with a free phone after 30 months, but if you cancel your plan during that period, you’ll be on the hook to pay the rest of the payments on the phone.
Also, you need an iPhone 8 or newer phone to trade in, and the phone must be in “working condition” with no cracks in the screen.
You can also trade in some recent Android phones for the free iPhone 12 deal.
AT&T will take an older phone (within reason), but you won’t get the full trade-in value of the newer phones, so you won’t get a free iPhone 12, but it will be discounted.
This offer is for new or existing customers. You can see the full offer details at www.att.com.
Verizon’s deal is similar to AT&T’s, but Verizon requires a new line of service. You can get up to $550 in trade-in value (spread over 30 months) on a new line of service if you trade in a recent smartphone ($440 for existing customers). If you are switching from another carrier, you can also get up to a $250 e-gift card. You also need to sign up for an unlimited plan and stay active for the entire term. You can check out Verizon’s website for full offer details.
T-Mobile has deals for one or two iPhone 12s. You’ll get up to $850 in trade-in value for iPhone XS or newer phones and less for older models. Or you can get two iPhone 12s plus two lines of T-Mobile Essentials service for $100 per month.
But to get the two lines for $100 per month, you have to have two pretty new phones to trade in. Check T-Mobile.com for the offer details.
The cellphone companies really want your business, and they also want to keep you from switching to another carrier for as long as possible.
So if you have a newish phone to trade, don’t mind the unlimited plans and are planning to stay with that carrier, by all means, take advantage of these offers.
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Jim Rossman writes for The Dallas Morning News. He may be reached at jrossman@dallasnews.com.
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