What do I care if it's a monthly bill or not? It's the total amount that matters to me. The cost is either $550/year via Apple, or $970 less the resale price of the phone via buying outright.Yeah dude I get the whole trade-in part, but then you get get locked into another conttract paying Apple for another 2 years every time you do that. Is it really worth it? Having a new monthly payment in your life on top of everything else we already pay for...especially for something dumb like a cell phone. I like having things fully paid for, instead of adding more bills into my life but that's just me.