[dquigley]

It used to be the case that you'd get the phone subsidized by your service plan from Verizon, but not any longer. Verizon and the other major US carriers stopped subsidizing phones in the past few years.

For me the biggest reason I wanted to buy through Verizon was they were offering a promotional $200 trade in value for my Note 4. For some people selling their phone separately would be a better deal though, so even that won't matter.

[PhantomGremlin]

Verizon and the other major US carriers stopped subsidizing phones in the past few years.

Except that Verizon just started subsidies again last month: https://www.verizonwireless.com/deals-landing/ Only they disguise it somewhat.

Not sure if that shows up properly. But in September an iPhone 6 was "worth" $650 as a trade-in. As of yesterday it was still worth $650. Today it seems to be $100 less:

   Trade in and get iPhone 7 for $99.99.
   Get up to $550 savings.

It's clearly a subsidy because an iPhone 6 isn't worth anywhere near $650 (or even $550) on the open market. Heck, I had an old iPhone 5C lying around that, last month, Verizon gave me $400 credit for toward an iPhone 7.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck ...

[0xFFC]

Thank you, my information was outdated.