I have a Xiaomi phone. It costs less than 200 dollars after taxes in my country, and it's great.
My cell phone company basically gives them for free in exchange for the 2 year contract, so after my 2 years are up, I'm definitely switching it for a newer model, or I'm leaving money on the table.
Many people are way more careless than I am, or heavier users, and definitely switch every year (or even less!).
Chinese phones make it much more feasible. OTOH, if you care about environment, these are no good - no user-swappable batteries for instance.
They don't give them away free, they build the cost into your contract. If there's sufficient competition in your local market you'll be able to buy a sim-only deal that costs less and returns that money to you and let's you upgrade on your own schedule to a phone of your own choosing.
I thought that too. However last Black Friday I found the best deal on an iPhone X was to pay £450 up front and then pay £29 per month for 2 years (totalling £1147 or £6.13 per month above the phone’s list price). The data and minutes I get would cost me at least £15 per month, making my deal absurdly good value!
It's the local state company. So no "sufficient competition" there (there are 2 other companies, but neither gives significant advantages, and you can't keep your phone number, which is a huge disadvantage).
Even if I went to China and bought the phone there I'd still be behind, no way to get a data-only contract for less than phone+data.
I'm not happy about it, it's just the way things are, and the reason I'll be switching phones next year (just because I'm basically forced to by the carrier).
That's not free, and is basically back to the subsidized plans that were so terrible. With TMO I know exactly what I pay for service and for the phone. I could pay the 0% loan off on the phone today and my bill will down accordingly. When the 2 years is up, my bill will go down accordingly. I could pay off the phone and leave TMO today if I wanted to.
My cell phone company basically gives them for free in exchange for the 2 year contract, so after my 2 years are up, I'm definitely switching it for a newer model, or I'm leaving money on the table.
Many people are way more careless than I am, or heavier users, and definitely switch every year (or even less!).
Chinese phones make it much more feasible. OTOH, if you care about environment, these are no good - no user-swappable batteries for instance.