That coveted iPhone 6 or 6 Plus is available at a discount or even free with deals from carriers Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile, and large retail chains Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Best Buy.
The most popular smartphones on the market right now are the brand-new iPhones, but with Apple introducing a new model annually, upgrading can prove to be expensive. Fortunately, even though the phones were recently released, there are already deals to be had.
Most of the deals involve the trade-in of an older model iPhone or smartphone, but there are already some directly discounted prices at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club: Wal-Mart is offering the 16 GB iPhone 6 at only $179 and the iPhone 6 Plus at $279, while Sam's Club, which is a members-only store owned by Wal-Mart, offers a slightly better discount at $177 for the 16 GB iPhone 6 and $277 for either the 64 GB iPhone 6 or the 16 GB iPhone 6 Plus. While these prices aren't listed directly on the store's websites due to limited availability, we called to confirm that they are indeed in effect at stores that have the device in stock.
Other deals on an iPhone require trade-in of an old smartphone, but the discounts are much steeper. Verizon is doing a straight-up trade deal for an iPhone 5s, which means a new iPhone 6 will be absolutely free. An iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, or iPhone 5c gets a $200 credit toward an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.
The other carriers are also offering trade-ins for the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. AT&T is offering a "promotion card," the value of which corresponds to the model of the old iPhone traded in: $300 for an iPhone 5s, $200 for an iPhone 5 or iPhone 5c, and $100 for an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4s. While T-Mobile isn't specifying exact amounts, it is offering to guarantee the best trade-in value on an old phone.
The big box stores are competing with the carriers by offering iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus deals of their own. While Best Buy is offering a $200 credit for the trade-in of any qualifying smartphone, Wal-Mart is promising to "double" the trade-in value for your old iPhone. The small print, however, shows this is not always the case. If the phone has a trade-in value of $100 or less, Wal-Mart will indeed honor the double deal, but for higher-value phones it gets a bit tricky. If the phone's trade-in value is from $100-$199, you will receive $200, so if your phone is worth $105 this can be a great option, but if your phone is valued at $195, not so much. And for phones valued at $200 or more, the Wal-Mart double deal does not apply.
For those who are willing to wait, the deals should get better as time goes by and stock increases. Surely by the holiday shopping season we'll see some even better deals on the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and we'll be sure to keep you informed as they are announced.
