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Do you mean as time goes on, we'll have more unsubsidized phones like the Nexus 4?

• mikecane 14y ago
  Likely yes. China wants in here and what better way than to offer cheaper phones that you can use with any carrier? To fend off that competition, the big name brands will have to do it first. I keep asking how much of a carrier-free phone's "price" is actually too fat a margin built in to soak carriers, who can seemingly afford to pay up.
  • eli 14y ago
    That only works if the carriers do indeed offer a lower price for not taking the subsidy. AFAIK, T-Mobile is currently the only one to do that explicitly (I guess you could go PAYGO on other carriers, but it's not quite the same). If you have to pay the same every month whether you take the subsidy or not, then you'd be a sucker to not take it.
    • mikecane 14y ago
      >>>If you have to pay the same every month whether you take the subsidy or not, then you'd be a sucker to not take it. Yes. But I think rates will change too. I think everything will sink to PAYG-like levels in the next few years. Maybe Sprint, being desperate, will change the industry.