It's not super clear from the article, but it sounds like they're talking about the outright purchase of an unlocked smartphone. Which, based on their past repo

It's not super clear from the article, but it sounds like they're talking about the outright purchase of an unlocked smartphone. Which, based on their past reports is only 15% of the market. [0] The headline is somewhat misleading when the vast majority of people are in fact buying the $1K smartphones, just subsidized through their mobile bill over several years. [0] https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/2018/unlocked-smartphone-users-are-spending-more-and-upgrading-less/ https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/20...