Should you still buy your next smartphone — or subscribe to it instead? Apple, Samsung … are betting that leasing, subscriptions, and guaranteed buyback programs can make upgrading more attractive.

The way I read that title: Apple and Samsung stopped innovating, now sales aren't growing, so it's time for enshittification.

Subscriptions were supposed to replace cable, then software, then heated seats, now phones. Funny how every innovation somehow ends with paying forever. If your business model needs me renting hardware I already carry everywhere, maybe the product isn’t improving fast enough to justify buying it?

You should buy it. Every time. Fuck subscriptions.

With smartphones current prices and componants becoming more expensive they are realizing not a lot of people will buy a smartphone costing more than 1500 dollars. Especially when hardware is now good enough and people are starting to try to keep their phone as long as possible.

Making you rent your phone allow to hide how much it's going to cost you and ensure them a steady cash income.

I buy one smartphone per decade. Why would I want to lease it instead?

If you cannot control the software on the device — including the OS — then you never bought it. You paid for it, but you did not buy it and therefore do not own it.

The only thing prompting phone replacement for me was battery life. And nearly all phones have shit ability to replace batteries (for now - EU rules incoming).

I bought a Fairphone 6 with /e/OS. I've left Big Tech behind. And I have a phone where I can easily replace the components. I don't want to swap devices for 4-5 years, which makes ownership far more cost effective than leasing.

Also -- with leasing, what happens when the renter is done with it? E waste, just like we have today.

Absolutely fucking not. Im not going to lease something that contains my private information ever.

You will own nothing and like it

No, and also fuck off with that.

I waited 8 year to get a newer phoner that was better than my previous phone in all respects at the same price. And even then it was mostly a convenience upgrade because my old phone was still working well.

Why the hell would it be worth it to lease a phone?

Never do that. You should always fully own and control your communication and computation devices. It's a matter of privacy.

Maybe we just need more affordable phones.

Not beating the WEF's "you will own nothing and you'll be happy" conspiracy aren't they

Don't kid yourselves, the majority of people will eat this shit up

I will not rent critical items.

There has been a large push to enter a subscription for eyeglasses, the large firms here keep pushing and pushing to rent glasses.

Fuck no, I refuse to have my eyesight be dependent on having to keep paying.

Same for music, I buy all my music through iTunes, I have never used Spotify, I refuse to be put in a situation where I am in financial trouble and I loose access to my music.

This is the same crap, I need a phone to be an active member of modern society, I will not rent that access.

If your current plan is to buy the latest and greatest phone today, sell it in two years, and then buy a new top of the line phone, then Apple's new lease program looks like an attractive option. They've priced it such that, over the course of the lease, you end up paying about the cost of purchasing the phone minus its resale value. Leasing looks convenient because it saves you from having to find a buyer.

It also keeps phones out of the secondary market, which benefits Apple. Off lease phones are used for warranty replacements, or sold as refurbished through official storefronts instead of person to person.

All companies see there are more profits to be made if you let consumers pay your company monthly instead of once, while you do not let them own anything. It is disgusting.

Just like with cars. If you always have to have the latest and greatest, need to be seen with “the best”, replace your phone frequently then yes leasing is cheaper than buying. This would be stupid but people seem to do this

“The intent is that the user will turn in their device every 12 to 36 months because they intend to upgrade regardless.”

No, I get a new device because I've broken the last one. The ones I give back, you can't sell on the secondary market which is their intent.

They want a future in which only they own property, and everyone else has to rent even the freaking air.

An important thing to note here is that this isn’t anything new. This is what a significant amount of people have already been doing for years through their carrier. I don’t have any statistics on hand for this, but I personally don’t know a single person who has bought their phone outright. Everyone just leases their phone through their carrier around here, and upgrades as soon as they’re allowed. Hearing people complain about their cellphone plan cost increasing or poor cell service but being unable to switch carriers until their phone is paid off is a common thing to hear, as carriers have been using their phone leasing programs as a substitute for plan contracts for awhile now.

Leasing your phone through your carrier with the ability to buy or turn it in at the end of the term has been the name of the game for a very long time. What Apple and Samsung are doing is just trying to entice you into going direct through them instead of your carrier which is actually a good thing.

If you’ve been buying your phone outright then you shouldn’t use a program like this, but if you’ve been leasing your phone through your carrier I’d actually recommend switching to just doing the same thing directly through the manufacturer since it frees you up to switch carriers whenever you want.

Initially I used to only buy new phones when my phone became too slow - roughly every 6-7 years. Now I get refurbished or get it from someone else for free and replace the battery. My current phone is from 2018 and still works well. Why would I replace it?

Last phone was an iPhone 13. Current is the 17.

I don’t game so unless something catastrophic happens I don’t see myself needing to get a new phone for a very long time.

I have no interest running “AI”, either.

I only buy hardware which supports installing free/libre operating systems and applications.

used unlocked phone market has been my go to for decades

Lease your phone so that you have enough money to finance a pizza.

“YOU OWN NOTHING!!”

Apple, Samsung, and any OEMs leaning on this can get fucked.

So they're coming to terms that nobody wants to buy what is basically the same kind of phone now a days for higher price... and so now they want to scam people by "upgrading" to what they think will be cheaper when in reality, it's probably not...

No. The only innovations these days are AI. If you don’t care about that, you’ll be fine with whatever.

My iPhone is pretty current from 2024, but my Android phone from 2019 isn’t much slower or less capable. It has less storage, but it has a memory card slot. There isn’t much it can’t do that the newer iPhone can, except for generate AI slop on device.

If you need AI, they’re gonna make you pay to play. If you don’t… just chill.

Serious question: How is subsiding a phone over three years and then trading it in at the end of those three years to get another phone any different from leasing ?

Or, maybe their CEOs can stick them in their asses.

I bet we're 1 generation away from cheap "clones" with (pure) Linux on them.

What do people need? A A57 octo core, 8GB RAM, 256/512GB storage, and a 100€ screen...

Throw in the usual stuff (sim, gps/galileo, wifi, bt) plus maybe a card reader, swappable batteries, audio jack for us nerds out there and the craze can be done with.

300€ from china (made in eu/us for 1100€ coming next decade)...

Good or bad, I see it coming! (Just after the linux desktop 😁?)

Didn't Google used to have Pixel Pass where you get a new phone every 2 years? Then they killed it before the 2 year cycle was up?

Imaging companies promising you a new phone after 2 years and then canceling the program at 22 months and then said oops, here $50 store credit...

Let's be honest here: A smartphone costs the same to develop, produce and so on, regardless of if you simply buy it or rent it. The companies need their profit, so they will not start renting you a phone when it is more profitable to sell it to you. It should make you suspicious that they want you to rent, because that kind of tells you that they will make more profit from renting than selling. That means that you will pay more for your phone in the long run without owning it.

I will go without. I will drag a PC and a mobile router everywhere I go before I rent a phone. Can these asshole corporate bullshitters just go to mars already so we can be free of them?

Fuck that.

...Motorola please pls pls sign deal with graphene OS

Those big corps sure lust after subscriptions. Damn those old paper magazines for giving them yet another unoriginal idea!

Dumb coonsomer would get this dumb products and then wait for next new dumb products.

They can buy my left nut.

Well Apple and Samsung can kiss my hairy hoop.

Rent your phone so you can rent an app that'll allow you to access your internet banking and pay for all the rents, including the rental of payment services for rental paying?

No, thanks, I'll cut through this whole Rube-Goldberg machinery of "living in society", straight into applying for a leasing for my next six-feet-under wooden house instead. I'd love the view, grass and chrysanthema at my roof, buzzards as my faithful company (whether it'll be part of the legalese leasing terms or not, Mother Nature doesn't care about that, and neither do I as I'd be long gone (or should I say, long bones) at that point).

!technology@lemmy.world

I'm sure carriers still do payment plans

Honest question, what the fuck happens with phones that companies buy back? Is it for recycling? I can't imagine that makes them any money, so is the bet just that its worth it for then to subsidize the cost of the new phone to keep you buying new ones more often? That doesnt feel like it adequately explains the practice

How about you guys kiss the pimpliest part of my ass instead?

Hummm ... Go f yourself.

This is basically how my company gives us our phones. And i think it’s now our less standard

I want an essential phone. Not too basic and not too “smart”.

Of course they want to make upgrading more attractive because it is less attractive now that it ever has been.

If you want people to buy new stuff, making that stuff different from the old stuff they already own would be a good idea.

Instead of innovating to create a better phone each year that users want, they seem more interested in just changing the business model. I used to be a person that would upgrade my phone every year or so, now I only start looking when my phone is within 1 year of end of life.

"guaranteed buyback" just nerfs the used market.

Maybe, if there's a way to fake every single detail then unlock the bootloader and load another OS, that is unless the GSM module dosen't has some unique ID

F-them! I'm quite happy with my DeGoogled Fairphone 6.

Um. Isn't this what people already do? Phone comes with contract. You don't own it.