At any given time, you can walk into a wireless carrier's retail store or visit its website and see countless free phone promotions. As we just saw with the launch of the iPhone 13 lineup[1] and Apple including carrier deals on its own website, even the iPhone maker is getting more aggressive with supporting carrier smartphone promotions.
One question always comes up with promotions like this: Are free smartphones really free? Let's take a closer look at what's often required by carriers in order to qualify for a promotion, and in most cases, what that ends up costing you.
You need the right phone to trade-in
Trading in your current phone is a key part of nearly every free smartphone deal. But not all phones are treated equally when it comes to overall value. It makes sense that a doesn't hold the same value as a .
But that's one of the "gotchas" with the current landscape of smartphone promotions. The free-phone-deals are advertised as a best case scenario. Meaning, with a trade-in that brings in the maximum value.
If you pay close attention, almost every single carrier and retailer includes two important words before every trade-in offer: "up to." For example, right now Verizon Wireless states you'll get up to $700 off the price of a Pixel 6[2] with a trade-in.
Sounds great, doesn't it? A free Google Pixel 6 is a heck of a deal.
But, it's not that simple. That $700 credit depends on which phone you're trading in. If you're trading in an iPhone 11 or Pixel 4, you'll get that full amount. However, an iPhone 8 or Pixel 3 will only net you $350 towards the cost of