Do you wait for smartphone promotions before upgrading?

One of the more frustrating things about being an early adopter is the fact that, more often than not, you have to pay full price to get the privilege to use that new phone, or tablet, or whatever it might be as soon as it becomes available. At least, that’s traditionally been the case in the past. Carriers might have a trade-in offer, or something similar, in place to get rid of your old phone for something new and shiny, but it always feels like just the bare minimum.

Basically, just enough to get a customer in the door, but not necessarily as great a deal as one might hope for.

No, those usually come down the pipe a little later. A month, or maybe longer, after a phone has been available on the market, you might find a carrier offering up a buy one, get one (BOGO) offer that will let you get a free phone after you pick up the first one. This typically means you also have to sign up for a second line of service, and they will cover the monthly installment price on your bill, but it’s still technically the customer getting a phone for free (once those promos finally kick in).

Samsung actually launched a BOGO deal of its own not too long ago, which allowed customers to buy a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ for T-Mobile’s network, buy a second phone, and get that second phone for free. No hoops to jump through, either. You don’t have to attach that second phone to a T-Mobile account to get the money to cover the cost. Just buy two phones — get the second one for free.

I saw people say on a regular basis that Samsung’s promotion was better than T-Mobile’s, which the Un-carrier had announced a short time before Samsung revealed its own promotion. And they’re probably right. Samsung’s deal is pretty awesome, especially if the Galaxy S8 has been a phone you’ve wanted to own, and a free phone is a nice icing on the cake.

And Samsung obviously wants to keep stimulating sales. As does LG. Just before the weekend kicked off, Best Buy saw it drop the cost of the Life’s Good crew’s latest flagship by several hundred dollars, only costing about $12 per month for 24 months. While LG’s phone has been available for a bit longer than Samsung’s, anyone who might be ready to get a new phone right now might have to take a second look at Best Buy’s promo.

The latest batch of promotions got me thinking: How many of you out there actually wait for these kinds of deals before you upgrade your phone? Do you prefer to save some money up front, or get a phone outright, versus picking up the latest-and-greatest smartphone the day of launch, with little promotion attached to it? Let me know!