AT&T’s new financing options could make owning a phone more difficult

AT&T is again changing its phone financing options, simplifying it from three plans to two. The bad news is you’ll no longer be able to actually own a phone.

The annual upgrade plan, dubbed AT&T Next Every Year, lets you trade-in your existing device so long as you’ve paid 50 percent of its retail value.

A 30-month financing plan, AT&T Next, lets you trade-in a device after 24 months so long as you’ve paid 80 percent of its value.

In its small print, AT&T notes both plans require the “trade-in of financed device,” suggesting there’s no option to simply pay one off and start fresh with financing on a new device. For those who like to sell older devices and offset the cost of new hardware, that could be a problem.