You are aware that just because the true cost is obfuscated by the cell payment plan that doesn't mean you aren't paying for it in exactly the same way as the ipad pro, which you could also buy on a finance plan. There is no such thing as "free" or "almost free", you are paying for it.
2 years ago, I got a sim-only plan for unlimited minutes, unlimited sms and 10GB data for £15/month.
1 year ago, I renewed with the same provider, who offered me the same plan for £10/month.
1 month ago, same provider offered me 12GB data for £10/month. Shopping around indicated I could get 15-20GB for below £15/month if I jumped networks, and stuck on a sim-only plan.
Instead, I got an iPhone SE 2020 128GB (RRP £449) and 40GB monthly data for £70 up front and £26/month.
Total cost of ownership over the two years is £694.
Cost of the iPhone if I purchased it from Apple is £449.
That remains the remaining spend is £10.21/month for 40GB data.
The discount cones at the cost of being locked in to the SE and your data cap for the next two years, which may not at all be a bad thing to you, but may be for someone else.
I failed to note that I wanted to buy an iPhone SE this year, which is why I looked for bundles.
The last time I bought a phone (2016) there was no bundle that was cheaper than buying the phone and a sim-only plan.
This time around, the inverse is true.
The only thing I’m locked into is my plan for 2 years. I can do whatever I like with the handset, and intend to offload it in a year assuming Face ID is seamlessly usable in public again by then.
1. Do we know what the contracts between Verizon-Apple look like? Verizon may get discounts for buying in bulk or for being a strategic partner.
2. Cell providers (like Verizon) may be funding OP's iPhone 12 with the monthly-payments of other customers that don't exercise their ability to upgrade their phone exactly every 24-months. I think this group may actually be rather large.
3. Interest rates for financing your iPhone via your cell provider's 2-year contract plan are likely lower than financing an iPad on a credit card or other third-party financing.
All of the above likely combine to make the iPhones proportionately cheaper than iPads, possibly significantly.
If he's a developer on HN, there's probably a good chance that he knows that.
Shoving the payments onto the carrier isn't always a bad thing.
For example, I don't always have $1,100 lying around doing nothing, and these days I'd rather be liquid in case of sudden job loss or other emergency. So keeping that $1,100 in my emergency fund and shoving the payments onto the carrier at 0% interest is a better idea than paying up-front for a phone.
I don't know about the US but where I live the plans are the same whether you buy a phone or not. So you are much better off buying a phone from the carrier and you get a considerable discount.
They didn't say what cellphone provider. Obviously it's _somehow_ baked into the plan, but would the plan actually be cheaper if they didn't take the $200 iPhone?
