For years, most US consumers bought their new smartphones using two-year contracts that subsidized the price of the devices. The US carriers have been moving away from contracts recently, though, including Sprint, who stopped offering them in early January. However, today Sprint resurrected the contract.
Sprint has confirmed that it is once again offering the two-year contract as a way for its customers to buy a new smartphone. “We listened to our customers and are giving them more choices to get their new device,” Sprint spokesperson Michelle Leff Mermelstein explained to FierceWireless. “Sprint is the only carrier to offer the most choices to obtain a new device — lease, installment bill, two-year contract, or pay full retail price.”
AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon no longer offer two-year contracts, leaving customers to choose between options like leases or installment plans when they want a new phone. The news that Sprint is bringing contracts back is notable because it’s now the only US carrier of the top four that’s offering subsidized phones. That could make Sprint more attractive to consumers, both in terms of keeping existing subscribers around and enticing others to jump ship.
