The psychology of non-subsidized phones . . .

[o4liberty]

Most carriers are getting ready to stop subsidizing devices and the cost of the devices will come down due to competition. You will be able to purchase devices everywhere.

 

[Raptor007]

TBH I put insurance on my phones regardless of paying full retail, subsidized, or the Next/Edge/Jump programs. For me dropping anything that costs as much as these phones do and not having a less expensive option is risky. I would hate to break my phone under either payment method and have to shell out full retail again or do something else to fix it.

The only reason I prefer not to buy unsubsidized is I like to upgrade annually or sooner and the resale value on any mobile device drops quickly after the first 6 months, yes even iphones drop in value as well.

 

[Gary02468]

TBH I put insurance on my phones regardless of paying full retail, subsidized, or the Next/Edge/Jump programs. For me dropping anything that costs as much as these phones do and not having a less expensive option is risky. I would hate to break my phone under either payment method and have to shell out full retail again or do something else to fix it.

But in the long run, you almost certainly pay more for the insurance than you'd pay to replace the phone yourself when it breaks. If that weren't true, the insurers would be losing money instead of making a profit.

The only time insurance makes sense is when you're insuring something so valuable that replacing it yourself would be impossible, or cause severe hardship. For the phones, you could just take each insurance payment you would have made, and instead set it aside for replacing a broken phone someday.

 

[Raptor007]

Not really, I pay what $6.99 x 12 = $83.88 for a year of insurance, if I paid full retail for a replacement is $725. I don't plan on keeping any phone more than a year. Plus insurance is more of a numbers game, they know how many will likely sign up, how many will actually need to use it and how much is profit. Insurance companies never lose money, but I also am very careful and have only lost 1 phone in 20 years.

 

[Gary02468]

I pay what $6.99 x 12 = $83.88 for a year of insurance. if I paid full retail for a replacement is $725.[...] I also am very careful and have only lost 1 phone in 20 years.

That's exactly my point. If you buy insurance and you lose one phone in 20 years, then over those 20 years you pay $1677 for insurance, plus the deductible of $200 or whatever when you lose your phone, for a total of $1877. Instead, you could skip all the insurance and pay just $725 to replace the lost phone.

Yes, it's a numbers game, and those are the numbers.