Phone upgrade how does it work

You may be willing to get locked into one of the higher-end contracts, such as a four-line family plan with unlimited data streaming for two years. If so, then they will probably let you upgrade that current iPhone XR to a generation 11 model. If you think about it, structuring contracts in this way makes sense for the service providers. There are many consumers now who are gun-shy about committing to any contract at all.

Phone upgrades are one of the best weapons that a cellular provider has to try and get you to do that. If you are ready to sign a two-year contract, or even longer, for yourself and your family, then in their minds, the cost of exchanging your older-model phone for a newer one is negligible.

What can you do? From the standpoint of the service provider, though, either option is fine. Either you keep paying the agreed-upon monthly fee through the end of the contract, or you pay the penalty for early termination.

They get their money regardless of which way you go. Popular Articles Quad what and octa who? A quick guide to processor lingo. Android Lollipop: Our favorite features. Top 10 battery tips for your smartphone or tablet. This content is provided for information purposes only. All information included herein is subject to change without notice. Verizon is not responsible for any direct or indirect damages, arising from or related to use or reliance of the above content.

Top Device Brands. Samsung Apple Motorola Google Amazon. About Verizon. Apple itself says the life-cycle of a typical iPhone is now three years. So the company times its new releases accordingly: We get a major redesign every three years, not two, with more minor updates in between.

Look no further than the glitziest non-Apple flagship launch of this year for clues: Samsung's Galaxy S21 family. Here the standout change wasn't made to the hardware or software, but perhaps to its least interesting feature: its price tag. Apart from that, major differences between the S21 and last year's S20 were mostly incremental. I remember having to pore over the specs sheet to spot salient differences as I covered Samsung's virtual Unpacked event.

Refinements were made to the usual suspects, including the processor, software and 5G. This might have been part of Samsung's response to the global coronavirus pandemic, but again it lends credence to the notion to that decreasing technological gap. It was also interesting to note the items Samsung dropped from the S21 flagship family to meet that lowered price. We said goodbye to expandable storage, bundled earphones and most notoriously the in-box charger , as Samsung followed in Apple's lead -- apparently in the name of the environment.

Read more: Here's what we know so far about Samsung's Galaxy S Let's also take a moment to consider the question: What makes the S21 an attractive buy? Chances are, a great camera, fast performance, battery longevity and a crisp display with narrow bezels are at the top of your list.

But the truth is 's Galaxy S10 boasts all those features. Heck, even the Galaxy S7 from five years ago did. My point is yearly changes have become too incremental to compel most people to upgrade with urgency, especially given the backdrop of rising smartphone prices. I'm not discounting foldable phones. Samsung and Huawei have made undeniable technological progress, and their bendy handsets have dramatically altered the way smartphones are used and could represent the future of the industry.

But folding phones are far from the mainstream. Phone manufacturers and carriers in the US have moved the most innovative devices to a price that's simply beyond reach for most people. Previous Next. The Pros and Cons of a Mobile Phone Upgrade Ninety-six percent of Americans now own a mobile phone, making cell phones ubiquitous devices at home and in the office. Pro: New Technology Can Mean More Productivity On the other hand, an upgrade can give you access to more feature-rich applications, greater functionality, and faster response time.

July 20th