I'm a pretty frugal guy, the most frugal person in my family and in my friend circle, and I just upgraded from my S21+ (broken port, dead battery) to S23 ultra for 290€.
Now, as I was upgrading, I got interested in how other people get their phones, and I just assumed everyone gets refurbished or used phones beacuse are the best value.
But for many people I know that's actually not the case, when they can't afford a new phone, they won't buy just used phone for like 200 bucks, they actually finance their phones?
And I think this is such a stupid reason to go into debt beacuse that's essentially what it is. We are living in 2026, a 300$ phone is almost identical to a 1200$ in 90% of ways.
I mean your phone providers do give you a discount, but that discount is pretty laughable considering how much we pay in phone plans.
I can't believe how many people are actually financing their phones.
byu/bugagub inFrugal
Posted by bugagub
5 Comments
Bruh, people are financing their doordashed chipotle and having half of the order eaten by the driver.
I don’t finance my phones either. I do buy them new though. My current phone I purchased right before the newer model came out. There isn’t much differece between last year’s model and the newer model anymore.
To save additional money I go with a prepaid service that fits my needs well. Currently we are spending $18 per month (taxes and fees included) for two lines.
i had to once bc my phone broke and the trade in value was higher than anything i could get selling it online. ive also had really sketchy experiences buying used tech, and fb marketplace is hell now.
its helpful in a pinch but i dont want to do it again.
When financing your phone is free and convenient, almost everyone is going to do it, even if they can afford to pay out of pocket for a new one.
I could easily afford to buy my phone outright but I can also finance it over 2 years at 0%. Why would I not do that instead?
People are financing $300 phones too. It’s normal, and always has been that way, even when flip phones were available. Phones are a necessary item of life.