Why carriers are rolling out upgrade plans when we’re not upgrading our smartphones

All of a sudden, two of the top four U.S. carriers have a new smartphone upgrade plan with another one expected to join suit. Does the wireless industry really feel bad for those who want to trade up but can’t or is something else in the works?

The new early upgrade plans may seem altruistic on the surface but they’re not all good deals. And they coincide with an interesting data point: Smartphone upgrade figures are down, down, down. Simply put: Fewer people are upgrading because the changes in yearly smartphone models are more incremental than ever and because most consumers are locked into two-year contracts with their current devices. For some, it just makes no sense to invest more money in a new phone when the current one works fine and can still run all of the latest and greatest apps. The carriers don’t have much to do with the first point, but they have everything to do with the second. Why would carriers care if consumers don’t upgrade their smartphones as often? I can think of at least two reasons: One financial and one technological.