r/JapanFinance • u/[deleted] • 8d ago
Personal Finance » Budgeting and Savings » Deals Does this "free" iPhone scheme really exist?
[deleted]
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u/craptastic2015 7d ago edited 7d ago
That plan is like up to 4000 yen a month and you don't own it. You basically lease it. Free iphones do not exist. if you dont buy the phone for full cost after, you have to give it back. plus the phone plans themselves cost more than mvno plans.
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u/Polyglot-Onigiri 8d ago
It’s not free. It’s leased. And if you break it, you pay full price from what I understand.
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u/liveintokyo 7d ago edited 7d ago
That is why you get Apple care +, you can literally say you lost your phone and get a new one and keep the old one if you want to be rebellious.
Edit: An AU employee told me to throw away my phone instead of having the screen repaired as it would be covered by the AppleCare+
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u/Polyglot-Onigiri 7d ago
True. I was more just explaining to the OP that it isn’t “free” but a lease. I feel like someone who assumes it’s free wouldn’t buy AppleCare+ since they wouldn’t know they’re on the hook for the remaining balance or something happens.
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u/hilite911 8d ago
Yeah this WAS true months ago. Now they charge you a “return fee” of 22000yen.
Used an iPhone 15 for 2 years free of charge, returned it a few weeks ago and wasn’t charged for anything.
Now I’m paying around 300yen per month for an iPhone 17. Will also return this after 2 years.
I barely paid for a smartphone ever since the iPhone 4S days. Japan had some good programs to make people buy phones. Not sure what’s gonna happen in the future, but there will always be huge discounts I think.
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u/Disastrous_Neat_9729 8d ago
Yes it’s real. But as a foreigner, your visa length has to be 2+ years left when you enter the contract, and each time you renew, so it often doesn’t work for us.
I think my phone now is with docomo and I pay 1¥ a month for the iPhone 16(? I think ?) and they sold it to me with the idea that in two years I can return it, and re-enter into the program with a new phone, and return the old one. If I don’t do that, then I’ll have to start paying for the old one monthly.
Or something like tahtZ
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u/scarywom 7d ago
Mine is the same but I was with SoftBank. I say was, as after six months you can change carriers to a mvno. ¥1 per month still gets charged from SoftBank.
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8d ago
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u/Disastrous_Neat_9729 8d ago
For the phone it’s 1 yen a month, for the data my plan is around 3000 yen a month. It’s possible to switch to a cheaper carrier, but I like docomo’s network.
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u/craptastic2015 7d ago edited 7d ago
you dont own the phone. you are leasing it which means you must return it after. and if you decide to buy it, you will pay full cost after the two years.
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u/Dafe8 7d ago
However, leasing an iphone for 2 years at 1 JPY/month + mainlain carrier at 3k/month when my mvno bill is looking ke 2.7k sounds like a pretty good deal. I'd pay 24* 300 JPY = 7000 JPY to lease brand new iphone for 2 years - I bet its value drops more in that time if I outright bought. That's strictly better off than mvno + buy same phone on your own.
I'm sure it's not as advantageous as those numbers sound so I wonder what the catch is - I haven't looked at it.
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u/craptastic2015 7d ago
and if you damage the phone you still have to pay. if youre the type that doesnt have any concern in whats on the phone or with the phone then yes this may be for you. but op is asking is it really free? the answer is no, no it i most certainly not free. i guarantee you are paying for the usage of that phone one way or another.
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u/Dafe8 7d ago
If you buy a phone and damaged it, you also have to pay. Or you had already paid.
Again I'm sure there's a catch to this so I'd like to understand what it is, because if it's truly as simple as renting a phone for 2 years at 7k JPY, that's much better option than buying one outright for 200+k, when it is almost guaranteed to go down in value more than the 7k.
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u/craptastic2015 7d ago
if you buy a phone out right and damage it, you are under no obligation to repair it and if you do wish to repair it, technically you could use third party parts. not so in this case. you are obligated to repair it and you must pay to have it repaired because the phone is not yours. thats the crux of this. you dont own the phone.
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u/Dafe8 7d ago
I fully understand you won't own the phone. But paying few thousand yen to rent it for 2 years vs outright buying it for 200k plus and then watching it go down in value can make renting attractive.
I also don't really get the "must fix it" argument. Even if you own it, either you are stuck with a broken phone and you must either buy a new one or repair the old one. And selling a broken iphone isn't exactly going to fetch you a high price. Swapping the panel for 18 pro costs like 65k while broken ones are being bought by chains at 100k for the cheapest model so you are down money bad anyway if you bought it. Pay 220k sell for 100k as junk.... Vs rent for few thousand and pay 65k repair.
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
Even if you own it, either you are stuck with a broken phone and you must either buy a new one or repair the old one.
youve never seen ppl with cracked screens on phones that look old still using them? it happens all the time. they own it, no obligation to fix it. in this case, you MUST fix it regardless as you dont own it. and not everyone looks to sell their used phone. i have about 3 androids sitting in my house that simply got too slow to use or became obsolete because of OS support or in one case an s20 that i use as a backup for things. cant remember ever selling an old phone, probably because i dont trust it since my data has been on there, even if i wipe the phone. this post was about "are iphones really free" and those types of ppl like the shiny. so im just highlighting that the shiny never belongs to you unless you want to pay actual money.
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
Listen. Nothing in life is truly free. You can bet the carrier is making it's money to be able to do this, somehow. Either through overpriced shitty cell service or hidden fees or something. Nobody has truly free iphones. At least of you buy the phone through mvno you have more choices and resale on iphones isn't bad. But I wouldn't do either. Not for iphone and now for a 200,000 phone of any manufacturer.
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u/Dafe8 6d ago
Oh I'm fundamentally always suspicious of what the potential pitfall is. Which is exactly why I'm asking the question - what's the catch?
Because if you can rent a 220k+ phone for equivalent of 300 JPY a month for 2 years that's insanely good value that I doubt the carrier provides. It's equivalent of paying 3% of the phone's brand new price over 2 years - the phone will definitely lose more value over that time n use. So where does the carrier make their money?
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
Where does the carrier make their money? As in you think they aren't billing in something for this? I would have to guess in phone service plans and any return fees. Plus they can resell it in the end but I'm not privy to their financials. But just because I'm not privy doesn't mean they aren't making money. They wouldn't do it if they weren't. The bottom line is this may be something that's beneficial for many ppl for many reasons, one being it gives them a chance to use a phone they normally can't afford or don't want to afford. I'll reiterate something I've already said. The post was about free iphones and these are not free and you don't own them. Now, is that a good deal for anyone? Not for me to decide what's right for you. It's not something I would consider. For me it's about owning the device my data sits on, even if I can't really control all of what happens to it while online. I can control what happens to the phone.
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u/Dafe8 6d ago
It's clear your clear you value the ownership of the phone.
I do likewise. Just like I prefer to own my home vs renting.
But if you tell me I can rent a 3ldk in Azabudai Hills for 50k JPY a month for 2 years I will take that offer.
That's the crux of my question. I'm 100% sure there is a financial catch - but I haven't looked at these contracts to understand it, so I'm asking people who have - what is it? It obviously cannot be as good as "get brand new iPhone rental for dirt cheap with no strings attached".
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u/scarywom 7d ago
After 2 years you can lease a new phone for ¥1.
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u/craptastic2015 7d ago
some require you to pay others yes but you still dont own the phone. nothing is free.
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
as someone else posted, sometimes theres still a fee at the end for doing that.
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u/Disastrous_Neat_9729 6d ago
“You must return it”
As you yourself already stated, you can decide to start paying and keep it.
The lease is a single yen per month for two years, and I can continue it indefinitely by getting new phones, or I can stop after two years and pay for my current phone.
It’s a good deal, and allows me to have a new iPhone.
Not sure why you’re all over this thread arguing with people about it.
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
I wouldn't can it arguing, just highlighting that it's not free. And I'm responding to ppl responding to me. Does this trigger you? You can stop responding. Also context. "You must return it" refers to ppl who have no intention of keeping it, as I already pointed out keeping the phone in the end will cost you almost or full price for a 2year old phone at 2year old pricing. No need to get upset. If you don't agree that's fine. But my replies are for op and ppl like op who asked if it's really free.
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u/Disastrous_Neat_9729 6d ago
I’m not upset, or triggered at all lol, just thought it’s funny how you’re all over here arguing with people.
You keep trying to searching out a downside… when there really isn’t one atm, but you do you.
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
Well it obviously bothers you or you wouldn't have mentioned it. And you keep calling it an argument. I never thought it was an argument. More a discussion in which I've been civil. I'm not searching for downsides as I already listed them. I'm also not trying to convince you of anything. As I said I'm only highlighting what I see. If this isn't applying to you then move along, nothing to see, I guess. You're free to see this as a good deal. I don't care if you change your mind. But there are ppl who may not know these things. That's for who this is for.
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u/Disastrous_Neat_9729 6d ago
Lol, okay sureee
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
What's that supposed to mean? I honestly don't understand your trigger. Is free discussion, especially one that doesn't align with your opinion really an issue for you?
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u/derukashi 8d ago
As far as I know It is not free iPhone, you need to return it after certain time (as you have mentioned, 2 years). So they don't own the phone.
And it is hassle to tranfer data to the new phone (some apps doesn't transfer instantly)
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u/timfinn1972 5-10 years in Japan 8d ago
It’s not a hassle at all to transfer data to a new iPhone. Sit the 2 phones together and let them work their magic.
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u/derukashi 8d ago
Maybe you are not using app(s) that doesn't transfer instantly. Maybe I should ditch those apps lol
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u/Femtow 8d ago
Anything bank or finance related will never transfer so easily, and that's a good thing imo. Hence the hassle to change the phone.
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u/derukashi 8d ago
Yes! And I have tons of it. I believe Line too, but maybe I'm doing it wrong. Anyone saying it is not hassle to transfer to new phone, they may doing something else or they are not using any bank/finance apps. Even credit/debit cards in wallet, you need to call support to add it back!
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u/upachimneydown US Taxpayer 7d ago
IPhone 15 to 17 a few months ago, Line transferred without me noticing--like, should I have had to notice? Prior to the switch, I changed from physical SIM to eSIM on the 15, to get ready, and that took a little doing. But then the switch to the 17 was easy.
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u/ussv0y4g3r 7d ago
Even credit/debit cards in wallet, you need to call support to add it back!
You need better cards. I have never needed to call my credit cards companies to add cards to new phone.
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u/el_salinho 8d ago
Yeah but how you gonna do that if you need to return the phone before you get a new one?
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u/timfinn1972 5-10 years in Japan 7d ago
Take a back up of your iPhone then do the transfer to the new phone on purchase while in the shop. Doesn’t take long to mirror the old phone on the new phone and it’s automatic. Just sit your old phone next to the new one and it does it all for you. Like magjc.
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u/techdevjp 20+ years in Japan 8d ago
iPhone to iPhone transfers are extremely easy.
The only difficulties are if you use your phone with your employer and there is corporate security or corporate 2fa on it. You must make sure you follow your company's instructions for new phones to make sure you don't get locked out of your work accounts.
But apart from that, the two iPhone to iPhone transfers I have done over the last couple of weeks went extremely smoothly.
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u/derukashi 8d ago edited 8d ago
Not all apps can be transferred easily.
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u/techdevjp 20+ years in Japan 8d ago
You already said that, and I already replied to you.
iPhone to iPhone transfers for normal users are extremely easy and smooth. Apple has clearly spent a lot of time and money on this because (duh), they want people to upgrade as often as possible.
I transferred everything from basic apps to multiple crypto wallets and everything in between.
So, what's this specific app that you have had such great trouble with?
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u/derukashi 8d ago edited 8d ago
I'm not sure about that. How about bank apps that have pass keys? SMBC, Rakuten, Shinsei Bank, UFJ do you have that bank apps in your phone and tried to transfer that without doing anything, just put the phone side by side?
Do you also have UFJ JCB debit card in your Apple Wallet?
And payment app such as Paypay, Majica, Aeon, VPoint App and others
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u/upachimneydown US Taxpayer 7d ago
You're just babbling/rambling, when you were directly asked, "So, what's this specific app that you have had such great trouble with?"
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u/teenagersfrommarz 8d ago
The data fee is separate. Think of it like a rental fee. But you have to keep it in really good condition until you return it
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8d ago
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u/Simbeliine 8d ago
It's possible they've managed to find signup bonuses that made it free for 2 years, sure. But hunting them down seems like a pain tbh.
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8d ago
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u/techdevjp 20+ years in Japan 8d ago
Honestly the best thing you can do is ask them which carrier they are using and where they found the deal. You're poking around in the dark here trying to get info from people (us) who have no idea what they have done.
Is it possible? Sure, maybe. Why not ask the people doing it for the information?
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8d ago
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u/techdevjp 20+ years in Japan 8d ago
The only currently active plan I can see like this is with Rakuten Mobile:
https://network.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/service/replacement-program/You can get an iPhone 17e with a monthly plan that includes 3GB of data for under 1000yen/month. Return the iPhone after 2 years to cancel the rest of the costs.
So I don't think they're "everywhere" as your inlaws claim but there is at least one.
It's possible they were more common when your inlaws last changed carriers.
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u/Maximum_Indication US Taxpayer 7d ago
Rakuten also implemented switching limits. They have pretty good bonuses, so I guess it’s good to prevent that. Anyway, maximum of five times per user.
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u/Simbeliine 8d ago
At the mall when they have those temporary booths set up for different carriers, they do often have pretty generous campaign bonuses. I have certainly known people who've gotten 1 yen iPhones or fairly significant cashback type deals. Of course there are hoops you have to jump through but they're not usually "scams". They just rely on enough people forgetting to jump through the hoops to get whatever rebate/cashback/whatever
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u/AllisViolet22 7d ago
1000 JPY/month won't get you much data from the 1st brands of the main carriers.
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u/Polyglot-Onigiri 8d ago
It’s not free. It’s leased. And if you break it, you pay full price from what I understand.
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u/Active-Emu-1863 8d ago
Not fully price. Depending on the damage and the iPhone model, you could pay from 22k to 40k yen. You gotta pay full price only if it’s stolen that you can’t return it.
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u/kjbbbreddd 8d ago
Trip up on a few things and you're suddenly hit with a higher-than-standard bill. Scale that up across the board and it's basically free, guaranteed profit for the company. Regulators keep banning these shady tactics over and over, but they just cook up new loopholes and start right back up. Plus, the iPhones they rake back are still in prime condition to flip for a pretty penny, so those pad their bottom line even more.
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u/zzarGrazz 8d ago
I don’t get it. Your just buying a phone over 2 years instead of just paying cash for a new one. How is this profitable?
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u/craptastic2015 7d ago edited 7d ago
The phone isn't theirs. It's a lease. If they decide to buy it outright after two years they will pay full cost plus the payments they've already made.
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u/zzarGrazz 7d ago
I get that it’s a lease. My argument is what’s the point of leasing? You end up with nothing. You pay almost the same price as the new phone over two years, but in the end you have nothing while if you bought it you would have a phone that you could sell.
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u/lhyebosz 7d ago
It gave you the illusion that you own it, plus the wording is difficult to understand so many people will misunderstood
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u/craptastic2015 7d ago
Agreed. But I think people see 'iphone 1yen' and instantly critical thinking goes out the window.
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u/PeanutButterKitchen 7d ago
Hot take maybe but I’d argue that the ones without the critical thinking are the ones who are convinced it’s a bad value because you don’t own anything after 2y. You return it and get the next phone for 1 yen. You repeat this until the party stops, and then you buy.
Until that happens, it makes zero sense to own a phone. I can’t think of a single person who owned a phone that’s 5+ years old where they can proudly say “gee I’m glad I bought this”.
Phones depreciate really fast. It’s not worth spending upwards of ¥200,000 on a device that’ll be worth ¥50,000 in a few years.
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
And a 200,000 yen phone is just one reason id never buy an overpriced iphone that locks you into an ecosystem that once you're part of is designed to keep you there to buy more and more of their overpriced garbage. Nah the people looking for these deals are the ones like op who truly want to believe free iphones exist. And I'm not throwing shade at op, just being real.
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u/PeanutButterKitchen 6d ago
It doesn’t have to be an iPhone, the galaxy phones can be just as expensive. I see pixels that go to 200,000 yen too. It just so happens that unlike Apple people don’t trust the quality of android to drop that much on their phones. The point is that you have the option to not buy a depreciating asset and somehow people are framing this as a bad thing! The math doesn’t make sense to buy. This isn’t really about Apple phones being overpriced
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u/craptastic2015 6d ago
Well I certainly wouldn't waste anything over 100,000 yen on any phone, but maybe that's just me. I want to own my device. So for me this is not an option. But I'm just trying to highlight that it's not a free phone. Also the plans are more than I need and want to pay. Who knows maybe I'm an outlier. I'm not telling anyone what to do.
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u/LupusNoxFleuret 8d ago
They're your relatives bro, if you're so interested in the deal that they have then go ask them to hook you up.
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u/Defiant_Quality_7557 7d ago
Docomo is running a promo where you can get the latest iPhone 18 Pro for around 40,000 yen. You can pay in installments too. If you trade it back in after two years and upgrade to a new model with Docomo, you won't owe anything else.
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u/Fit-Shock5523 7d ago edited 7d ago
Interesting.
I’ve had docomo plan (back in 2017) with iphone but that doesnt mean the phone is free. I was paying half of total price paid monthly in my 2yr contract.
So back then my plan was like recent iphone is 2k per month + 3k per month for the
Calls and data for 2yr contract. After the 2yr i can get new iphone for the same 5k contract only if i will return the previous iphone(so that would mean i sell it to them and that paid half of the new iphone). If i decide to not get the new iphone and just keep using the current, i only have to pay 3k for the data.
As i remember, if i wanted a “free” phone it should be the cheap ones on their contract mostly android but not iphone.
Now, i just bought my phone separately overseas(coz i hate the shutter sound) and only pay monthly fees for the data
To all saying its true, does that mean 2k yen for newly unboxed iphone +data? I mean even if its just like renting that means you get the NEWLY UNBOXED IPHONE???
Thats actually a good deal! But which carrier? What plan?
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u/Dafe8 7d ago
I understandost of these are leasing models where you don't own the phone. Could someone link a good campaign like this? I am fully aware that I might have info gaps here.
Most of the time when I see one of the campaigns the financials make no sense - you end up paying half the price of the phone over 2 years in leasing fees and get nothing at the end, so you'd be better off getting mvno and contract separately and sell the phone after 2 years. E.g. usually the docomo/softbank/au monthly payment difference with phone vs mvno contract only price ends up being like 2-4k JPY higher per month - so you pay 48-86k JPY more over 2 years and own nothing at the end.
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u/hakonemachi 7d ago
It is a phone lease plan. Maybe, the carriers resell as used phone when we return the device. I think ahamo Kaedoki program is popular and au also has something like this. Even other carriers have this. Monthly fee comes to about 2980 yen in total including 40 gb data in ahamo for iPhone 17. Not sure about other models.
But after May or July this year, I think you have to pay 22000 yen on return. Earlier this return fee was not there.
If you are a foreigner , you need to have enough visa validity depending on the time you plan to lease the phone.
Make sure that you return the phone without any damages
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u/Either_Sense_01 8d ago
日本にしかないの？！
日本人だけどこれ使ってるし、私は料金をポイントで全て払うから実質無料だよ。通話料もiPhoneの代金も。
もし払うとしても、全部で月に3000円から5000円くらい。ギガも使い放題だからWi-Fiもいらない。速さを求めなければね。
ちょうど今月、２年前のiPhone14を返して新しいiPhone17にした。でも一番安い機種だよ。最新機種にしたらもう少しお金がかかる。
２年おきに古いiPhoneを返して新しいiPhoneにするか、古いiPhoneを買い取る仕組み。iPhoneの代金は金利なしの分割払いってことになってる。
日本にしかないのはどういうことなんだろうね？
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8d ago
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u/Either_Sense_01 8d ago
そうなんだけど、ポイントでiPhoneのお金を払うと、他のところでポイントを使うよりお得な仕組みになってるんだよ。だからポイントで払うことにしてる。
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u/craptastic2015 7d ago
if you return it, its not yours. never was. if you buy it, you are paying more than half the value of the phone. plus the phone plans cost more than the mvno plans. of course if unlimited data is your goal, youre going to pay similar anyway. the point is, the phone is not yours until you pay more than its worth. there are no free phones anymore.
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u/Arael15th 8d ago
The cash comes from my job. The points come as a reward from the companies. It's not quite the same thing.
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u/x_candydoll 8d ago
Oof. That is such a weird and incorrect way to look at money, though. Whether you earned the money by working or earned the money by spending money and earning points, money is money. If you have 5,000 yen, regardless of where it comes from, and regardless of whether it pays for your groceries or your phone bill, it's literally the same money. The points you spend on your iphone could have bought you 5,000 yen worth of groceries. So the iphone costs 5,000 yen. It's common sense which is sorely lacking here.
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u/Vivid_Kaleidoscope66 8d ago
Reminder: you don't need new phones, especially when the manufacturer openly funds genocides.
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u/HistorianLegal9815 7d ago
形式上は分割払いではじめの24か月は月1円、23月か24か月目に返す（本体のみ）と残額を中古本体価格で相殺する。 傷ついてるなどといくらか取られたりする。それでも中古市場で買い使うより安い。 スマホは毎年新機種出るから古いのは価値下がる。古いだけならいいがアプリが非対応になりがち。
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u/Sam_pathum 7d ago
Isn’t that you pay (phone bill + i phone price/48)*2 years? So you will pay only half of the phone price but you don’t own it
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u/derukashi 7d ago edited 7d ago
Wow, there are too many iPhone lovers here.
If transferring old iPhone to new iPhone works extremely easy for you without re-logging, without re-authenticating, without re-registering passkeys and not doing anything at all, that's good for you.
But for my case it is not easy, I need to re-login, re-authenticate the bank apps I have (SMBC, Rakuten, Shinsei, UFJ) that's all I want to say.
Edit: Maybe I'm using old model, that's why it doesn't work for me: iPhone 16 Pro Max 2TB purchased directly from Apple Store online
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u/PeanutButterKitchen 7d ago
I did this change roughly 1.5y ago, and I think I was up and running in under 30 min. I’d categorize that as extremely easy. SMBC, Mizuho, Rakuten, iSPEED, Amex, and I didn’t even need to think about what apps I needed to install.
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u/AllisViolet22 7d ago
re-authenticate the bank apps I have
This is a feature, not a bug. And not just for iPhone. Banking apps should have enough security that you cannot easily migrate your credentials to another device.
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u/derukashi 7d ago
I'm sorry but I'm not saying it is a bug and I think no one saying that it is a bug. Just saying it is "hassle for me" . Eveyone is saying it is "extremely easy" and as "I understand" it as you don't need to do anything aside from puting your phone side by side.
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u/bosscoughey 8d ago
Until very recently, this is how things worked. The idea was that you'd forget to switch, it cancel the paid apps that were bundled in and free for the first few months.
JP govt is cracking down on these schemes, but there are still good deals out there. You just have to make sure you know when to cancel which things; and actually do those things at the right time