The only article I've ever seen is when Sprint CEO flat out admitted that Sprint subsidizes the iPhone 40% more than any other phone they carry.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Risi...-Sprint-CEO-Dan-Hesse-to-take-pay-cut_id29830
Considering the MSRP of the iPhone is $650 for the iPhone 4S (at the time of the article). And the MSRP for the Galaxy S2/3 (at the time of the article was around $550). And we all know carriers don't pay "full msrp" for phones purchased in bulk.
My best guess is Sprint or any other USA carriers probably pays close to $600 per base iphone 5 these days. And Sprint probably gets a significant discount from Samsung and other manufactures over MSRP. I don't think Sprint is paying Samsung no more than $450-500 for their flagship S4 these days.
What's everyone's take on this matter.
The reason I wanted to post on this matter is I believe carriers are trying to decrease the subsidy model indirectly. The iPhone was such a game changer in 2008 because it forced the base $199 contract pricing. Before that carriers would routinely charge $299-399 on 2 year contract for smartphones.
Now USA post paid carriers have their pants down and trying to raise prices in directly by stealthy trying to increase profit by lowering the subsidy (forcing users to wait 24 months instead of 18-21 months).
I also believe Google/Motorola is giving significant discounts to the carriers over the $579 MSRP price of the Moto X. While carriers will never admit how much they actually pay for these phones. It is my belief all 4 major carriers are not paying more than $450 for the Moto X in bulk. In turn the carriers are trying to sell the Moto X for $199 plus ridiculous $30-36 upgrade/new activation fees.
This is the carriers way of reducing subsidies. So in reality they probably aren't subsidizing the Moto X more than $200 on 2 year contract.
And for those who say go prepaid etc. Most people in the USA are on family plans and or have significant corp discounts. Something like 60% of Americans are on family plans on post paid carriers and those family plans average about $50-55 per smartphone line. So most people who have 4-5 lines in the USA really aren't paying more than their prepaid counterparts.
It's was the carriers strategy in the race to 100 million "subscribers" during the mid 2000-2010 era by promoting family plans that carriers find themselves now in a catch 22 situation with smartphone subsidies and family plans.
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Risi...-Sprint-CEO-Dan-Hesse-to-take-pay-cut_id29830
Considering the MSRP of the iPhone is $650 for the iPhone 4S (at the time of the article). And the MSRP for the Galaxy S2/3 (at the time of the article was around $550). And we all know carriers don't pay "full msrp" for phones purchased in bulk.
My best guess is Sprint or any other USA carriers probably pays close to $600 per base iphone 5 these days. And Sprint probably gets a significant discount from Samsung and other manufactures over MSRP. I don't think Sprint is paying Samsung no more than $450-500 for their flagship S4 these days.
What's everyone's take on this matter.
The reason I wanted to post on this matter is I believe carriers are trying to decrease the subsidy model indirectly. The iPhone was such a game changer in 2008 because it forced the base $199 contract pricing. Before that carriers would routinely charge $299-399 on 2 year contract for smartphones.
Now USA post paid carriers have their pants down and trying to raise prices in directly by stealthy trying to increase profit by lowering the subsidy (forcing users to wait 24 months instead of 18-21 months).
I also believe Google/Motorola is giving significant discounts to the carriers over the $579 MSRP price of the Moto X. While carriers will never admit how much they actually pay for these phones. It is my belief all 4 major carriers are not paying more than $450 for the Moto X in bulk. In turn the carriers are trying to sell the Moto X for $199 plus ridiculous $30-36 upgrade/new activation fees.
This is the carriers way of reducing subsidies. So in reality they probably aren't subsidizing the Moto X more than $200 on 2 year contract.
And for those who say go prepaid etc. Most people in the USA are on family plans and or have significant corp discounts. Something like 60% of Americans are on family plans on post paid carriers and those family plans average about $50-55 per smartphone line. So most people who have 4-5 lines in the USA really aren't paying more than their prepaid counterparts.
It's was the carriers strategy in the race to 100 million "subscribers" during the mid 2000-2010 era by promoting family plans that carriers find themselves now in a catch 22 situation with smartphone subsidies and family plans.
