Jump vs. Edge vs. Next: Smartphone Upgrade Showdown

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless have each introduced new early smartphone upgrade programs in Next, Jump and Edge respectively, although all three of the plans involve a myriad of price tiers and other complicated stipulations. Fortunately, the team over at The Verge has put together a chart that shows which plan is the cheapest, based on how much it would cost to purchase the Galaxy S4 on each carrier.

The results show that T-Mobile has the most affordable upgrade solution, although it really only benefits the end user if they are purchasing a new smartphone every six months. Otherwise, the savings are only in the $100 to $250 range per year. For customers that upgrade their smartphone on an annual basis, or even less than that, these new plans are hardly worth considering.

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The problem with smartphones: they’re losing their cool and wow factor

It has been six years since Apple introduced the original iPhone. The event was likened to a seismic shift that ignited the push to adopt smartphones in the United States. Now with up to 70 percent of subscribers owning smartphones, the big three carriers are searching for ways to encourage upgrades.

However, the push comes as consumers complain the ‘wow’ factor is missing from the industry. The slowdown in smartphone upgrades – evident in Samsung and Apple’s sales – fell nine percent in 2012 with 68 million U.S. subscribers upgrading their devices, according to a Wednesday Wall Street Journal report…

The root of the problem is two-fold: 70 percent of post-paid carriers subscribers in the U.S. already own a smartphone and the impression that there is less reason to update current smartphones.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

With smartphone penetration approaching 70 percent of contract subscribers last year in the U.S., there are fewer customers left to upgrade to the Internet-ready devices and data plans.

And among existing smartphone owner, fewer are seeing the need to buy the latest Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy as the pace of innovation slows.

In an interview, a 26-year-old Alabama man who still uses a Samsung Galaxy S2, said “it will be a few years before a breakthrough and people buy phones like when Apple first introduced the iPhone.”

Shares of both Apple and Samsung have taken a battering as Wall Street investors voice concern about lower growth for the iPhone and the just-released Galaxy S4.

Investors, used to years of steady growth in the smartphone sector, now worry the best days are behind the two cell phone giants.

For carriers, the wide adoption of smartphones in the U.S. means the days of featurephone owners upgrading to more powerful handsets with data plans has almost reached an end.

While the carriers welcomed paying subsidies of around $400 to attract an iPhone user who will buy a data plan, upgrading a smartphone owner carries little benefit.

In response, carriers have enacted longer periods between upgrades and added new fees to slow the updates, according to the report.

While some carriers – such as Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have begun offering quicker upgrades if customers opt out of subsidized handset prices – they are also investigating other revenue streams.

T-Mobile, the nation’s fourth-largest telco, is looking toward wearable devices such as Apple’s rumored iWatch to save the day.

“There is a whole new generation of wearable devices coming that could have some impact on the industry,” T-Mobile CEO U.S. CEO John Legere told the newspaper.

However, as we wrote earlier today, the market for smartwatches is set to grow tenfold next year amid rumors of technology giants entering the market.

In addition to Apple’s iWatch, Samsung and Google are reportedly working on own wristwatch products while Microsoft is developing a smartwatch with a transparent aluminum chassis and LTE capability.

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T-Mobile Introduces Jump: Upgrade Your Smartphone When You Want

T-Mobile USA has announced a new program called Jump that will allow existing subscribers to upgrade their smartphone more often than once every two years. The program, which costs $10 per month to enroll, allows customers to trade in their current smartphone for a new one at an equal or lesser price after an initial six month waiting period. Available starting July 14th.

“At some point, big wireless companies made a decision for you that you should have to wait two years to get a new phone for a fair price. That’s 730 days of waiting. 730 days of watching new phones come out that you can’t have. Or having to live with a cracked screen or an outdated camera,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile US. “We say two years is just too long to wait. Today, we’re changing all that with the launch of JUMP! Now, customers never have to worry about being stuck with the wrong phone. And, yes — it’s really as good as it sounds.”

The smartphone a customer trades in must be in good working condition to be eligible with Jump. If a smartphone has water damage, a cracked screen or doesn’t turn on, a deductible must be paid in the range of $20 to $170 to upgrade. Jump itself comes bundled with an insurance plan that protects new smartphones against malfunction, damage, loss or theft, at no additional cost. 

Jump is part of the second phase of T-Mobile’s Uncarrier initiative, which eliminates the long-term contracts and other burdensome restrictions that competing carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless often inflict on customers. T-Mobile teased that Phase III will be coming this September.

T-Mobile also announced the expansion of its nationwide 4G LTE network, which now reaches 157 million people in 116 metro areas across the United States. Moreover, the carrier introduced a new family plan with four lines of unlimited talk, text and web for $100 per month — no credit check or annual contract required.

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