{"id":7027630,"date":"2026-08-05T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/apple-2\/apple-upgrade-iphones-lock-you-into-the-big-three-providers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T00:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T00:00:10","slug":"apple-upgrade-iphones-lock-you-into-the-big-three-providers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7027630","title":{"rendered":"Apple Upgrade iPhones lock you into the big three providers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/category\/apple\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Apple&#8217;s<\/a> new device-leasing program has a strange (on the surface) rule attached to it.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Apple launched <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/tech\/apple-upgrade-leasing-program-announced\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Apple Upgrade<\/a>, a new Klarna-backed program that allows customers to lease new iPhones, MacBooks, and other devices for a small-ish monthly payment, rather than spending more than $1,000 up front. However, folks quickly noticed something in the fine print: You&#8217;ll need an account with AT&amp;T, Verizon, or T-Mobile to lease an iPhone. <\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Our big Guessing Game is back!\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/tech\/big-guessing-game-apple-edition-round-2\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Enter for a chance to win an Apple Watch<\/a><\/em><\/strong><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>So, while the phones are technically unlocked, you can only activate them with one of the big three mobile carriers.<\/p>\n<section x-data=\"window.newsletter({ isDeal: false })\" x-init=\"init()\" aria-label=\"Newsletter Sign-Up\" class=\"relative invisible my-12 mx-auto w-full max-w-3xl md:my-16 ziff-component accent-cut-for-gradient-bg accent-cut-border-for-gradient-bg bg-gradient-fuchsia-secondary p-[2px]\">\n<p>\n            <span class=\"text-gradient-fuchsia-secondary\">Mashable Light Speed<\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p>Cybersecurity analyst John Gruber looked into this and, on his website,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/daringfireball.net\/2026\/08\/followup_big_three_carrier_requirement\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">Daring Fireball<\/a>, gave a couple of big reasons as to why that might be the case.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex mx-auto mt-8 w-full max-w-3xl font-sans text-lg leading-normal md:text-xl md:leading-7\">\n        <span class=\"font-bold text-primary-400\">SEE ALSO:<\/span><br \/>\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/tech\/openai-apple-lawsuit-court-public-opinion-texts\" class=\"flex items-center text-secondary-300\"><br \/>\n            <span class=\"ml-1\">OpenAI takes Apple lawsuit to court of public opinion, posts texts<\/span><br \/>\n            <svg class=\"ml-1 w-4 h-4 font-normal fill-current\"><use href=\"http:\/\/mashable.com\/images\/icons\/spritemap.svg#sprite-arrow-right-thin\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<p>For starters, it&#8217;s a way to prevent fraud. According to Gruber, the three big carriers do enough risk assessment before letting anyone open an account that Apple can be fairly sure you&#8217;re not leasing an iPhone for nefarious purposes. Beyond that, though, a former Apple employee wrote into Gruber&#8217;s site to explain that Apple signs big-money deals with the carriers for prominent placement and other things like this rule. We can&#8217;t verify the former employee&#8217;s claims, but the report is interesting.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Every year, the Carrier Teams at Apple negotiate a deal\/program (hundreds of millions of dollars) with each of those Big 3,&#8221; the reader wrote. &#8220;In return for those dollars, Apple will make concessions exactly like this (or similar.)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, if you want to lease an iPhone through the Apple Upgrade program, you can&#8217;t do it with an account on a smaller carrier.<\/p>\n<section class=\"mx-auto max-w-7xl\">\n<\/section><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apple&#8217;s new device-leasing program has a strange (on the surface) rule attached to it. Last week, Apple launched Apple Upgrade, a new Klarna-backed program that allows customers to lease new iPhones, MacBooks, and other devices for a small-ish monthly payment, rather than spending more than $1,000 up front. However, folks quickly noticed something in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7027631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11768],"tags":[1332,1022,17367,1320,11324,8818],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7027630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-2","tag-apple","tag-big","tag-iphones","tag-lock","tag-providers","tag-upgrade"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Apple Upgrade iPhones lock you into the big three providers - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7027630\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Apple Upgrade iPhones lock you into the big three providers - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Apple&#8217;s new device-leasing program has a strange (on the surface) rule attached to it. Last week, Apple launched Apple Upgrade, a new Klarna-backed program that allows customers to lease new iPhones, MacBooks, and other devices for a small-ish monthly payment, rather than spending more than $1,000 up front. 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