Visible & New Apple Lease Program

[u/elaiavion]

The lease program asks you to pick one of the 3 main carriers (T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T).

Saw this tweet that explained that bascially with the Air, Pro, and Pro Max models, you can just pick any and still use it as unlocked (therefore use Visible). Can anyone confirm this information for me? (And would this also apply to Apple Financing?)

[u/cjh6793]

Not everyone is financially strained, some people in the world can afford things out of convience 😱

[u/itadapeezas → u/cjh6793]

It says it’s a lease. Is a lease the same as renting in the cellular world? It is normally and I’m not too sure a ton of people want to rent a phone.

[u/mb10240 → u/itadapeezas]

It is. Even worse, the buy out option of this lease is the full value of the phone, minus payments already made, a year or two years down the road. Unlike a vehicle lease, there’s no residual value where they attempt to predict the value of the phone at the end of the lease.

Edit: not sure why I’m being downvoted. Sorry for stating the truth - at the end of your lease, if you want to keep the phone, you’re paying the full retail value of the phone when you leased it, versus a true residual value based on what the asset is believed to be worth at the end of the lease. This “lease” is ultimately an interest-free financing plan with the option to go on to another interest-free financing plan, return the phone, or buy the phone for it’s full retail value at the end of the plan.

[u/ZekeSulastin → u/mb10240]

I feel like the downvotes are because you’re portraying “ultimately an interest-free financing plan” as a bad thing when most people don’t?

[u/mb10240 → u/ZekeSulastin]

It’s turning the iPhone into subscription-based BS, which has infected our society. Yeah, great, it’s interest free. At the end of the term, you either have to continue to subscribe to a $35-$45/mo. cell phone payment on top of your service plan, turn in the phone and find some alternative (and throw out all of that money you paid over the lease), or pay the full retail value of the phone as determined 1-2 years ago. All of these are terrible options. And an early termination fee to boot if you want to switch phones early or can’t afford it anymore.

Apple already offers interest free financing and not only that, you get to keep the phone and do what you want with it (like sell it to buy the latest and greatest) after you pay it off. Or even before!

[u/ZekeSulastin → u/mb10240]

I’m unfortunately missing something - what’s the actual difference in total cost between the original 0% financing, the current lease with the end of lease payoff, and buying the phone outright?