The next iPhone officially went on sale Sept. 16, and, according to industry analysts, the phone sold well with the jet black model selling out. Despite this, if popular media accounts are right, removal of the conventional headphone jack has proven quite controversial, which may have had a negative impact upon sales. Perhaps worse for Apple, despite several minor general refinements such as a better camera and a faster processor, this year’s release lacks any new major features akin to prior models’ addition of fingerprint scanners or touch pressure sensing. Still, there is one thing Apple has largely ignored which might have the potential to reverse the seven’s bad press up to now, the iPhone upgrade program.
“Oh really? That’s cool. I’ll definitely take it,” Eli Moncivais, athletic training sophomore, said. Up until he had heard of the program, Moncivais said his opinion about the new iPhone was lukewarm at best, and he couldn’t think of a single positive thing to overshadow the removal of the headphone jack.
“I like to plug in my headphones and charger and this might cause problems,” Moncivais said.
The upgrade program works like a monthly subscription to the rights to use the latest iPhone. Users pay $32.41 monthly for the base model, $5 more than most carriers charge for a payment plan of the equivalent iPhone tier, however there is a caveat. Whenever a new iPhone is released, users can trade in their phone for the new model. While a user that upgrades every few years is better off buying the normal way, a user that upgrades every year could save around $260.08 per iPhone.
Still, the upgrade program hasn’t convinced everyone to buy an new iPhone, but many others plan to start taking advantage of the upgrade program in the future.
“Yeah, I’d probably take advantage of it,” Javier Suarez, a business marketing freshman, said about the upgrade program.
Suarez had already heard of the program and anticipates most likely using the upgrade plan in the future, but doesn’t want to start with the new iPhone.
“I’m really not too much of a fan of it. I’m gonna wait until the iPhone,” Suarez said.
Lindsey Dominguez, dental hygiene freshman, is still a fan of the new iPhone despite all of its bad press, admiring its new matte black finish and better camera quality. Nonetheless, she said she doesn’t plan to make use of the upgrade plan as buying an iPhone every year is still too expensive even with the potential effective discount the upgrade plan offers, and said she is likely to just buy a new phone instead of taking advantage of the upgrade program.
