Santa, all I want is an iPhone 5

By Mir
December 11, 2012

Thinking of upgrading your iPhone? I actually wasn’t; it’s my husband who’s chomping at the bit for a new one, and he’s had to endure me telling him it’s not worth the money at this point. But today he brought a little tear to my deal-finding eye.

Right now Best Buy is offering $50 off iPhone 5s, making the 16GB model just $149.99 with contract. Still a lot of money, obviously. And we have iPhone 4s right now, not even 4Ss, so I figured any potential trade-in would be minimal. But… then the husband went on to tell me that Gazelle would give us $145 for our old iPhones, making an upgrade a $5 no-brainer. (Gazelle couldn’t be easier to use, by the way—we’ve used them before and it’s painless—and you can lock in today’s offer for 30 days, giving you some time to complete any potential transaction.)

If you’ve been on a similar fence, just thought this might be useful information to share. Everybody’s happy—we get new phones (husband’s happy) and it costs almost nothing (I’m happy).

15 Comments

  1. Gazelle is offering me $205 for my old phone. For real?

  2. *sigh* I’m only one year into my contract with my iPhone. Guess next year I’ll get an iPhone 6!

  3. Carmen, lock it in! No penalty for not doing the deal, but it reserves you a spot at that price. 🙂

  4. I am with AT&T but not under contract. How would that work with best buy. Sorry if it’s an ignorant question, but I am clueless. Maybe because I have a 3GS!

  5. The price is with a contract, Cyn, so obviously it’s a lot more without one. How do you have an iPhone that’s not on a contract?? Or do you just mean you’ve already done your 2 years?

  6. I would love to have an iPhone (of any type) but I can’t stomach the costs of plans. We currently are on pay as you go with Virgin Mobile. But now DH and my 16 yo have smart phones and even that adds up. I’ve tried looking at plans and I can’t make heads or tails of what it would actually cost. My younger one is starting high school next year and will probably want a phone too. Is there a reasonable cost way to get a family plan – or is the $35/month/phone and paying a bit more for phones the cheapest way to go?

  7. There’s no getting around the expense of a data plan, seems like. There are several cellular providers who do a $40-for-everything plan, but my experience is that unless you like in a major city, you’re unlikely to have the signal coverage you need. We have AT&T, and even with a family plan, each iPhone costs us about $60/month. Because I use mine as my business phone, I can take it as a business expense, but… yeah. It can be pricey.

    I’d suggest stopping into an actual store to discuss options with a rep face-to-face. A good one will be able to help you understand the different options.

  8. Does the $50 off apply in store as well, or just online?

  9. Should be in-store as well, Missy.

  10. Shoot, won’t qualify for the lower price on the iPhone 5 until Sept 2013. But I’ll be sure to check out Gazelle when I do!

  11. Trust me – going from the iPhone4 to the iPhone5 is a big jump… The 4S to the 5 isn’t that much of an upgrade, but there is good value moving up to the 5 from the 4… The only thing that stinks is if you have a large collection of cables and other adapters and accessories for your iPhone 4S (or older).

    With the redesigned connector on the iPhone5 you’ll need to purchase yet more adapters or new docks and accessories because the 5 isn’t backward compatible with the old stuff… Plus, there’s not a whole lot out there when it comes to car kits and cables. Apple only released the specifications for the new connector to manufacturers last month…

  12. For those trying to avoid expensive contracts, but want an iPhone, there is an option besides Virgin. You can use any GSM iPhone (AT&Ts are the easiest to find) on StraightTalk ($45/mo unlimited talk text data).

    My hubs bought an iPhone 4S off eBay and successfully runs it on Straight Talk. You can even get a really old iPhone (must be GSM!) and do it.

    Here’s the best article on it:
    http://www.cultofmac.com/186843/why-straight-talk-might-just-be-the-best-carrier-for-your-iphone-period-review/

  13. Just FYI, Best Buy does phone buyback too, in store, and they gave me $160 for my iPhone 4 (not even a 4s) in September.

  14. Amanda and Michelle, fabulous information, thank you! I have the smartest readers. 🙂

  15. Finished out my contract and was waiting out for a new phone.

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