It's not like providers throw up their hands and say "oh, I get we'll need to take a hit on this one"
They just adjust offerings and pricing to compensate for it.
With locked plans, they are willing to offer the phone at a discount because they know the cost is offset by the value of the customer acquisition for at least 2 years.
If they can't do that, then they'll just sell undiscounted phones. Which is what consumers can do today anyways.
Yeah, I am willing to trade being locked to that carrier for a massive discount to my phone.
I hope this doesn't mean the discounts go away, because then it will cost me so much more to upgrade phones every few years.
It was only $350 for my iPhone 14 Pro at launch for example due to a $1000 discount with trade in. I just looked at the trade-in list and bought the cheapest one on the list refurbished from Amazon, which cost me $350. Traded that in and they gave me a new 14 Pro.
I have 0 issues being locked to ATT for 3 years as I need service and I like their service anyways.
