Real Cost of iPhone 3GS: About $218 More Than You Think

Already the 3GS is incurring fanboy wrath: For 3G owners not yet eligible for a new phone, the 32GB costs $499 and the 16GB costs $399—and even more without contract. Three tiers of official pricing below:

How do you qualify for the announced pricing? New customer, new line of service, presumably contract renewal, that sort of thing. Update: AT&T confirms that most iPhone 3G owners will be eligible for the good upgrade price after 18 months. Last year, people who owned iPhone Numero Uno got a shoo-in, but apparently that's not the deal now. To add insult to injury, you'll even have to pay an $18 upgrade fee to jump from 3G to 3GS.

Here's the skinny, sent straight to us from AT&T:

iPhone 3G S: Device Pricing
• iPhone 3G S will cost $199 (16GB) and $299 (32GB) for new and qualifying customers.
• If you are not currently eligible for an upgrade but still want iPhone 3G S, early upgrade prices are $399 (16GB) and $499 (32GB)
• No-commitment pricing: $599 (16GB) and $699 (32GB)

iPhone 3G: Device Pricing
• iPhone 3G will cost $99 (8GB) and, while supplies last, $149 (16GB) for new and qualifying customers.
• If you are not currently eligible for an upgrade but still want iPhone 3G, early upgrade prices are $299 (8GB) and, while supplies last, $349 (16GB)
• No-commitment pricing: $499 (8GB) and, while supplies last, $549 (16GB)

Upgrade eligibility varies with each customer, but in general, you will become eligible the longer your tenure in your service agreement. Customers can find out at www.att.com/iPhone or in one of our stores if they are upgrade-eligible.

We received this from reader Alon, who went through the sign-up process:

We also just saw these crazy insane prices on Apple's website, thanks to commenter mrwizzz, but we can't see how those numbers are final—at least, we hope to hell they're not:

For non-qualified customers, including existing AT&T customers who want to upgrade from another phone or replace an iPhone 3G, the price with a new two-year agreement is $499 (8GB), $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB).

[Wirelessinfo.com; David Chartier on Twitter; other various tips and sources—thanks!]

Send an email to Wilson Rothman, the author of this post, at wilson@gizmodo.com.

publish on Facebook

Upload an image | Add an image URL ×

Image URL: ×

Youtube URL: ×

Choose a file to upload:

×

Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×

Loading comments ...

Earlier discussions | Other discussions | Show all discussions | Show featured discussions only | Expand all threads Collapse all threads
Start a new discussion