Verizon matched one of T-Mobile’s most popular Black Friday offers, saying customers can get a free iPhone 7 by trading in of a recent smartphone.
As with T-Mobile, the free with trade-in offer also applies to other new flagship smartphones. Verizon included the Google Pixel and the Samsung Galaxy S7, among others. Customers must sign up for a 24-month installment plan, with Verizon covering the payment for the phone each month. A customer who stays with Verizon for less than the full two years wouldn’t get full credit for a phone.
Customers switching to Verizon from a competitor and who purchase a phone will get a $200 Visa prepaid card for each line they transfer, up to four lines, as well. And Verizon is offering discounts on an array of other accessories. The Black Friday offers will run through the weekend, Verizon said.
Wireless carriers are upping the ante on deals and promotions as the holiday shopping season gets going. The aim is to attract more customers in a market that is no longer expanding like it did a few years ago. Only T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint added regular monthly phone customers recently, while Verizon and AT&T saw net losses in that most lucrative subscriber category.
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Sprint (S) has said it will offer Black Friday customers who buy a Galaxy S7 phone a second S7 phone for free or a free Samsung Tab E tablet. The HTC Bolt phone will be half off, and customers who buy an LG V20 will get a free 43-inch LG 4K UHD Smart LED TV.
Both Sprint and T-Mobile have also offered discounts on service in addition to hardware promotions.
AT&T’s deals, which started on Tuesday, include a free iPhone 7, Galaxy S7, LG G5 or LG V20 only for customers of the company’s DirecTV or U-Verse services who switch a line in from a competitor. The carrier is also offering an assortment of discounts and deals on other hardware, such as a $200 Visa gift card with purchase of a Samsung Galaxy S6 phone or an LG G Pad X 10.1 tablet for 99 cents with purchase of a flagship LG phone and a two-year contract.
To learn about Verizon’s Yahoo purchase, watch:
When the iPhone 7 was first released, all four carriers offered a free with trade-in offers. T-Mobile and Sprint said the offers greatly increased demand compared to sales of last year’s iPhone 6s. AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) said their deals only modestly affected demand.
Analysts think the promotions may have helped sell more iPhones than expected, but Apple won’t reveal actual iPhone sales until January, when it reports results for the final quarter of the year. Even then, the company never discloses how many iPhones were sold in the U.S.