Sprint announced in August 2015 that it would kill the contract. No longer would the carrier offer customers two-year contracts when it comes to smartphones, and they really won’t be missed.
The decision to remove contracts also removes the perceived benefit of the subsidized phone, so the unrealistically cheap price tags for devices will be eliminated as well. Sprint said by the end of 2015, none of its customers will be locked in to the deals that gave handsets their deflated price point.
Updated on 01-09-16 by Robert Nazarian: Added in that Sprint officially ended two-year contracts on January 8, 2016.
Sprint made the death of the two-year contract official on January 8, 2016. The company provided us with the following statement:
“Beginning Jan. 8, Sprint is no longer offering a subsidized purchase option on handsets for new customers. Sprint continues to offer customers choices to obtain their new handset through Sprint Lease — the most economical way to obtain the latest wireless phone — and Sprint Easy Pay (installment billing).”
Since this initial statement only referred to new customers with no mention of existing customers, we reached out again for further clarification:
“Base customers can continue with a two-year contract on a reactive basis, but we encourage them to choose Sprint Lease or Sprint Easy Pay because it offers them the best value in obtaining a new device and rate plan.”
This means that most customers using Sprint’s service will now pay full price up front for phones or lease the device, paying for it month-by-month over the course of two years, which is the trick that the monthly plans tend to pull to make the phone more affordable, while still having some sort of long-term commitment even without the contract.
Removing the two-year restriction does provide for additional flexibility when upgrading devices. Anyone who wants the latest and greatest will be able to make the switch without the hassle, because they are not stuck with a plan that makes them miss a generation of new devices.
The change makes Sprint the final of the four major U.S. carriers to make the switch to monthly plans in favor of two-year deals. T-Mobile was the first to do so, followed by Verizon Wireless last summer, and AT&T last week.
Sprint has been on a tear in recent weeks with it’s 50 percent promotion in which AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon customers can switch to Sprint and save 50 percent off of what they were paying with their current carrier. The deal launched last November, and it was extended through February 11 because it has been a huge success.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.
Apple's first foldable phone is now on shelves, in short supply, but with an unreal amount of buzz around it. After all, it's the first foldable iPhone, and there's plenty that this phone gets right. But there's also a lot that is either broken or underwhelming. What's peculiar is the dialogue around this phone, and how it has completely overshadowed every other attempt at making a phone with a similar form factor.
I've spent some time with the iPhone Duo, and I've used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 for almost three months now. In my opinion, Samsung deserves more credit. When the Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived earlier this year, it was celebrated in some circles and ridiculed in others for supposedly copying what Apple would eventually deliver with the iPhone Duo. The dialogue was pretty odd, for multiple reasons. Samsung has been making foldable phones for years, so claiming that it copied a product Apple hadn't even launched was simply absurd.