Every August, carriers start dropping the prices on older iPhone models in anticipation of the next wave coming in September. If you’re impatient or want to save a few bucks, we’ve compiled the best deals on various iPhones sold in Canada. Happy shopping
To start, these are the prices of all the iPhones you can buy directly from Apple. The tech company doesn’t have any deals on iPhones for back-to-school, but it does on Macs and iPads.
Almost all of the carriers have the base model iPhone 16 down to around $750 or less through their financing programs; however, since these are all more or less the same (excluding anything that requires you to bring the phone back after two years), we can’t stress enough how important the monthly plan is.
We’re also avoiding any bring-it-back deals since they act as a form of carrier lock-in and will usually stick you in a not-so-great plan. We also believe that most modern phones should last at least four years, so avoiding the bring-it-back deals will save some cash in the long run.
Bell, Rogers, and Telus seem like they have okay deals, but when you also need to get an $80 monthly plan, your total two-year cost is around $2,600. Stepping down to a flanker brand like Koodo/Fido/Virgin, you only get 40GB of data, but the monthly plan is just $55. This brings your total to only $2,070 over two years.
The best deal on an iPhone 16
The best way to get the iPhone 16 (with a plan) right now is to buy the phone on Freedom’s network through a Best Buy store. The two-year total here is exactly $1,537, but upfront, you get a $50 Best Buy gift card and a new Beats Pill speaker. It’s a pretty great deal.
Buying the phone from another carrier through Best Buy can also get you a decent gift card, but the other telecoms don’t offer the Beats Pill speaker. That said, signing up at Telus includes a $200 gift card, which is a decent deal. However, once you factor in the cost of the $80 plan, the deal isn’t that great. There are similar options at The Mobile Shop, but they only offer between 50,000 and 150,000 PC points as a bonus (which is equivalent to $50-$150).
For most, financing an iPhone at zero per cent right from Apple and buying a low-cost plan from Freedom or Public Mobile are also solid options. This doesn’t save you as much as the Freedom deal listed above, but if you can find a plan for $40, the total two-year cost of financing a phone from Apple with that plan will be $1,969, roughly $600 less than what you’d get from the Big Three, even though their iPhones are “on sale” right now.
Other deals on older iPhones or the 16e?
If you want to bring this price down even further, Apple is selling refurbished iPhone 15 models directly for $849, and the iPhone 16e brand new is $899. I think for most, the extra battery life on the 16e is worth the extra money, but you do lose access to the better camera, the cool Dynamic Island, and MagSafe without a case.
The carriers also offer a lot of refurbished phones, but those are likely returns from people using device-return plans. While we don’t expect these to be as thoroughly refreshed as a refurb directly from Apple, there is a chance that you’ll still get a phone in decent condition, considering most people use cases and screen protectors. We recommend looking at these through Fido/Koodo/Virgin since the monthly plan prices are better than those of the Big Three.
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