Learn more. When smartphones were just starting to become a thing, the most obvious way to get one in the United States was simple: visit your wireless carrier of choice and buy whichever device the salesperson convinced you was the best. Now, you are no longer dependent on what your carrier sells because you can easily buy unlocked phones from all over the world. But what exactly are the differences when you look at unlocked phones vs carrier phones?
Before we get into the advantages and disadvantages of either purchase method, you must understand the basic differences between each type of device. In general, a carrier phone — also known as a locked phone — is sold through a wireless carrier or a third-party partner such as Best Buy , for example. It is either already attached to your wireless account when you buy the phone or will immediately attach when you first set it up. You can remove this lockdown, but there are usually significant requirements involved more on that in a bit.
Related: The best phone deals. On the other hand, unlocked phones are devices you buy without a carrier involved in any way. This could be buying directly from the manufacturer or through a third-party retailer such as Amazon. Unlocked phones usually come with no SIM card and no prerequisite to sign up with a service for any particular carrier. As the name suggests, unlocked phones are not bound to any particular carrier, so you can feel free to bounce from one carrier to another as you see fit.
The biggest advantage to buying a carrier phone is that the carrier will help you pay for it. Instead, your carrier will ask you to pay a portion of the cost upfront — kind of like a down payment— and then pay off the rest of the device over a period of time. This upfront deposit could be anywhere from zero dollars to hundreds of dollars, depending on the price and popularity of the phone. Additionally, if you have good credit and an account in good standing with the carrier, you can earn significant device discounts.
This could be anything from a percentage discount or even a buy-one-get-one-free deal, which we see quite often. You could also get some free gifts with your purchase, such as cases or other accessories. As an added incentive, once you buy a carrier phone, you now have an easy way to get support and service for that device. If you come across something that confuses you about your device, you can simply visit your local carrier shop, and they will gladly help you with it.
If your phone has some physical defect, your carrier can help you get it fixed. Speaking of getting phones fixed, carriers also usually offer their own insurance plans, which could be cheaper or more comprehensive than plans offered by manufacturers. This will give you some peace of mind if you are buying a very expensive new flagship!
See also: What are your best options for phone insurance? Unlocked phones are gaining ground, even if locked devices continue to be the norm. Reasons to stick with carrier-locked phones also exist. Today we are giving you a rundown of the pros and cons that come with buying an unlocked phone. The best way to explain this is by telling you what a locked phone is. Locked phones have been blocked from working with other networks. Try putting a SIM card from another carrier in a locked phone, and you will get a message telling you this action is a no-go.
On the contrary, an unlocked phone has no network restrictions. This is why they offer to unlock devices after your contract has ended, you have paid the smartphone off, or you have spent some time using their network.
For more details: What is an unlocked phone? Unlocked phone users have no restrictions, contracts, or ties to any company. They can shop around with no restrictions. Whether they want T-Mobile deals, Verizon quality, or the lowest prices the market can offer , they are free to come and go from carrier to carrier as they please.
There is a catch, though! Your phone needs to be compatible with the network more on that in the cons section. Dual-SIM unlocked phones make it possible to use two networks at once. Maybe you travel often and want to have a SIM card from another country. This is all possible with a dual-SIM unlocked phone. Here: These are the best dual-SIM phones you can find. Carriers offer phones on monthly payments, which is very convenient, but makes your bills pricier.
Device payments keep you in debt with the carrier and make it harder to leave the network if you ever chose to. Carriers are businesses and obviously want to earn as much money as possible. Their smartphone prices are not always fair, and they are only ever cheaper if they can hook you into staying with them for a more extended time. Carriers often have deals that drive down their device prices, but they always want you to get these on device payments or take on a contract.
This only means they will get the money back from you eventually, and then some. See the device above? Any sane non-rich person would think twice or three times before forking out nearly two grand for a phone.
Buying unlocked will not only get you lower prices on devices, but it will also help you avoid overspending when not considering the total cost of a phone. Very few people take full advantage of what high-end phones have to offer, but you see people using them every day.
Maybe if we had to pay for our devices outright, we would think twice about getting the latest and greatest smartphone the industry has to offer! After all, most people would do just fine without a high-end handset. Carriers have a limited selection of devices. They all tend to have the most popular phones, but you might prefer other options out there. When buying unlocked, you can choose from many manufacturers worldwide, and there are many excellent phones with limited or no availability from US carriers.
American carriers love throwing unnecessary apps on their phones. It actually costs the same. Obviously, this doesn't include sales or promotions. You can buy an iPhone X from Apple or from any major carrier and the base price is exactly the same. Some brands, like Moto and Huawei, sell phones only from their websites or through retailers like Best Buy and Amazon. If you want to buy it directly from a carrier, you have one choice: Verizon. The big advantage here is that buying an unlocked model from a phone maker gives you access to a larger variety of phone models compared with the smaller selection of handsets that carriers typically offer.
Yes and no. For example, if you buy a Google Pixel directly from Google, it's unlocked and can be used on any major carrier simply by putting a SIM card in it.
Many people prefer to finance a new phone instead of paying full price for it upfront. Phone makers and phone carriers offer promotional credit plans to cover the price of your phone. Keep in mind, this financing is in addition to what you pay monthly to a phone carrier for a data plan. That depends on your credit.
Phone makers and major carriers offer promotional credit financing at 0 percent interest usually over 24 months. Obviously, if your credit is not great, your interest rate will be higher and in turn you will pay more for your phone. It's worth noting that some credit offers require a cash deposit in addition to financing the cost of your phone -- again this is all dependent on your credit history.
Apple will let you upgrade to a new iPhone as early as six months -- you just have to pay off half of the phone's cost and trade it back into Apple. Keep in mind, the phone is unlocked but must be activated in an Apple Store on one for the four major carriers.
Also, the finance payment you're making to Apple is in addition to the cost of a monthly data plan.
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