The best way to buy your iPhone under iPhone Upgrade Program

If you're a Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint customer looking for a quick and easy way to get your hands on the iPhone 7, then you'll want to use the Apple Store app to buy it through the iPhone Upgrade Program.

The program allows you to pay a monthly fee for an unlocked phone, rather than the full up-front price, with an option to upgrade to a new phone once per year. You'll only need to pay the phone's sales tax up front. What's more, AppleCare+ service is included, which covers phone support and two accidental damage incidents.


The biggest reason you may want to avoid the program is the monthly cost. While a 32GB iPhone 7 costs $27.05 per month through AT&T's instalment plan, for instance, that same phone costs $32.41 through the iPhone Upgrade Program. While Apple's price factors in AppleCare+, if you don't feel like you need that protection, why should you pay extra for it?

Additionally, if you like owning your phone, the iPhone Upgrade Program might not your best option. While you can certainly hang on to the same phone for 24 months, the program seems geared more towards those who upgrade every year and don't mind parting with their older device.

If you'd rather not drop a huge amount of dough all at once, you can spread it out over multiple months with an instalment plan. It's exactly what it sounds like: You take the full price of the phone and divide it up over 12, 24, or 36 monthly payments (usually with 0% interest).

This is the best option for those on a budget, because you can increase or decrease your monthly payments depending on how soon you'd like to pay off your device and upgrade to a new one.