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Nate Swanner
Former Reporter, TNWTNW's former West Coast writer in the PNW (Portland, Oregon). Nate loves amplifying developers, and codes in Swift when he's not writing. If TNW's former West Coast writer in the PNW (Portland, Oregon). Nate loves amplifying developers, and codes in Swift when he's not writing. If you need to get in touch, Twitter is your best bet.
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.