Next Up Program

Hello @rorypr, we're happy to help with questions about  our next up program. 

With the Next Up Program you pay 36 monthly device payments, plus $5 per month for the Next Up option to trade in and upgrade early.

• After you pay 50% of your smartphone’s retail price, along with the Next Up feature, you can trade it in and upgrade to something new.

Check out our Next up Program on our help page above, and you can get started by clicking "Shop now" and then following the prompts.  Let us know if you have any questions. Thank you for reaching out to AT&T Community Forums. 

Alasani, AT&T Community Specialist 

That's exactly what they do. The At&t reps will talk in circles, lie about everything, or just not give you an answer(just like the answer above). You'll never get a straight answer out of them. One told me that the $5 goes directly to paying off the phone. When I ask for a printout showing me exactly where $540 had went to paying off my phone he continued lying in circles and eventually just vanished because he couldn't out talk me.

@JABrooks no need to hijack 5 month old threads, you made a post so stick to that one, this thread will be closed 

I just cannot figure out how to calculate how much it costs me to get a new Phone every 1, 2, or 3 years on these programs.

Here is my scenario:

I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max. I got it with a $1000 trade in for a previous phone because we have a family unlimited plan. That credit is applied over 36 months, and I understand that if I pay off the phone early, I will lose any portion of the credit. So if I trade in after 1 year, I really only got about a $333 credit, not $1000.

I also know that with NextUp, if I pay $6 a month, I can trade when half the phone's retail price is paid off. Does that take 18 months (which would be a bummer as that doesn't match the release cycle)? And also, if I do this, I won't have to pay the balance to trade in, but there are two other issues. One is that I lose any of that original $1000 credit that was spread over 36 months. The other issue is that I *cannot* get a $1000 credit for this phone! Sounds like a bad deal.

My friend pays Apple $60 a month and get a new iPhone every year for that. Here is what I am trying to calculate..

Since I am stuck in this ATT cycle, how much did my "$1400" phone cost me if I pay it off early after 1 year? I think $1400 - (1/3 of the credit), so $967? So $80 a month? Which is a lot worse than the Apple deal? And if that is true, and had I done the "Next Up" for $6 a month, I wouldn't have to pay the balance but I wouldn't get a credit either?

Has anyone run numbers for my scenario, and does it always come out worse than the Apple deal?
 

@rsilvers129 

If you really want to upgrade every year, you should not be upgrading through your service provider. You should be buying into Apple's upgrade program instead.

It sounds like you have purchased your current phone through AT&T so the workaround would be to buy into Apple's upgrade program now, trade in your current phone directly to Apple for a lump sum off. With the Apple card or you will be forced to select a service provider as part of your purchase

If every 2 years is enough for you, you should consider alternating between carriers offer, and a lump sum offer from Apple.

When you have installments and credits coming from your service provider, you can still trade in the phone to Apple for a lump sum credit. As long as you purchase at full price from Apple it does not affect your installment or credit with your service provider. You would continue to get installment billing, and a credit every month on the previous phone.

Then you simply transfer your SIM yourself, it's very easy, and move your data over

Thanks.

My added complexity and why I was using the carrier is that I have a wife and 3 kids, and they were normally happy to get my hand-me downs, so I could always give my phone to someone and get another. The problem I am having now is that I have Pro Max, and none of them want that size phone. They are ok with a phone every 3 years. I think I will ween myself off the carrier purchase and move to Apple.


BTW, I did run some math, and it seems like if I use ATT, a $1400 phone costs me $88 per month (just for the phone) if I got it on the $1000 trade in, but trade it in after 12 months. After 24 months, it drops to about $42 a month average. 

Apple is $60ish a month and that is a new phone every year, and includes AppleCare+ with free unlimited repairs (though not sure if there is a repair deductible actually).

Yeah the pro Max is huge. I thought Samsung note/ultra phones were big

Yeah it looks like you'll get $650 credit if you trade in directly to Apple as a lump sum.   

You can upgrade one of the other lines on your account so that you can trade in your current phone, and you should be able to get $1,000 off if you work it that way. It will be $1,000 off over 36 months which means you'll wind up paying about $600 ish for the phone

When the phone comes in you activate it on the phone number that you upgraded, then you play the shell game with the Sims and the data to get everything on the right phone