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xxray

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jul 27, 2013
3,115
9,412
Do you guys have any tips for buying and keeping up the latest devices? I see a lot of you that always are getting the latest devices whether it's the latest iPhone, Galaxy, HTC One, Nexus, etc. I'd love to buy a new phone each year or have multiple phones that I could change to whenever I wanted but I feel bad paying $600-$700 per phone since I buy them for full price.

Any tips, feedback, suggestions, etc. is much appreciated! ;)
 

blackhand1001

macrumors 68030
Jan 6, 2009
2,600
37
I went from a galaxy nexus bought in January 2012 to a moto x bought in January 2014. Both on Verizon.
 

Neverbepeace

macrumors 6502a
Jan 14, 2009
794
255
New York
Tips:
1) Buy Used
2) Sign contracts for multiple lines
3) Get a better paying job and buy new


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You got a point :cool:
 

studIOS5

macrumors 6502a
Oct 14, 2011
523
111
Oregon, OH
I personally buy and sell on craigslist. I buy phones cheap and sell them high either on eBay or Craigslist or I do trades that are to my advantage value wise. Over the last two years I've managed to go from a droid razr to an iPhone 5c just buying selling and trading. Never lost a cent
 

JaySoul

macrumors 68030
Jan 30, 2008
2,629
2,865
I buy the phone SIM-free and then put a rolling monthly SIM of my choice in.

Saves me LOTS of money, works out generally about 50% of the price of a comparable phone/contract.
 

Fernandez21

macrumors 601
Jun 16, 2010
4,840
3,183
I sell or trade my old phones and use my upgrades when I can. Couple of months ago I was able to get a moto x and lg g2 free on contract with at&t. Then I traded the moto x for a nexus 5 and the g2 for an HTC Google play edition on Craigslist. I just bought an HTC one m8 using at&t next with no money down and have my nexus and one m7 for sale and will be using that to pay off the m8 with some money left over.
 

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
Do you guys have any tips for buying and keeping up the latest devices? I see a lot of you that always are getting the latest devices whether it's the latest iPhone, Galaxy, HTC One, Nexus, etc. I'd love to buy a new phone each year or have multiple phones that I could change to whenever I wanted but I feel bad paying $600-$700 per phone since I buy them for full price.

Any tips, feedback, suggestions, etc. is much appreciated! ;)

I always buy Applecare as this helps keep the re-sale value up, and I try to upgrade ASAP after a new phone or iPad is released, and every 18 months or so with Macs....I'm off track this year due to finances, but if you do it that way, you do tend to get a better sale...Also taking good care of your devices using a case on them etc. helps keep those scratches at bay too.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
In the past, I've gotten my phones via the subsidized price, though I paid full price for my Nexus One back in the day.

I now have a Lumia Icon and I did that through the Edge program. I'm a little skeptical of this, but I'll let this program play itself out. At the very least if I don't like the program I can just pay off the phone and own it outright.

The Edge program gives me some wiggle room however since I may not like the WP8 phone and choose to go back onto iOS or Android. If that does occur, selling a WP8 phone will be more work and time then if I was selling an iPhone. With that said, so far I am liking the Lumia.
 

Robster3

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2012
1,987
0
Either buy and sell, or pay out and upgrade contracts, just paid out a $100 per month 5S contract for $300 sold the 5S for $800 and got a HTC One M8 on a $80 contract.
I run my business off a mobile so tax right offs too. If my phone wasn't earning me a living i could live happily without one:)
 

ucfgrad93

macrumors Core
Aug 17, 2007
19,579
10,875
Colorado
I just accept the fact that I don't always need the latest and greatest phone. My previous phone, an iPhone 4, I had for 2 years before I got my HTC One last July.
 

Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,725
13,245
UK
I usually pay off my existing contract and then upgrade or sometimes I sell older handsets.
 
Last edited:

The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Dec 15, 2010
30,991
20,174
UK
I buy the phone SIM-free and then put a rolling monthly SIM of my choice in.

Saves me LOTS of money, works out generally about 50% of the price of a comparable phone/contract.

Yeah that's what I'm doing from now on.. Three has unlimited tethering but now only on sim only deals
 

kupkakez

macrumors 68020
Apr 4, 2011
2,120
1,327
Austin, TX
I never keep my "old phones". When I'm ready for something new I'll sell on Swappa and put the $$ towards the next phone I want. I sometimes buy them off contract or from Swappa.

With the S5 I'm hoping to just keep that for at least the next year. We will see though! ;)
 

jkeekij

macrumors regular
Oct 17, 2011
190
2
I always pay the upgrade price. My Verizon account has 10 devices on it, so there is usually always an upgrade available.
 

Nabooly

macrumors 6502a
Aug 28, 2007
849
5
Buy and resell. I only do this when I don't need the device anymore, or if it has limited capabilities compared to the newer version. I don't update based on simply bumped specs. I'm still running a MBP late 2008 as my DD. My luck is terrible in terms of phones though. Something always goes wrong with them.
 

rockitdog

macrumors 68030
Mar 25, 2013
2,724
1,241
My current phone is a 5S which I am hoping to sell shortly for an S5. I'm currently on a standard 2 year plan with AT&T and if the iPhone 6 is an absolutely knock out of the park must have- I will switch to the NEXT plan and get an iPhone 6 which they are allowing people do almost with minimal resistance. Where there's a will, there's a way!
 
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