My wife always updated to the latest iXXXXX.
With the 6 she wants but is not ready to fork over the bucks.
Same with the lastest iPad.
Her other sisters are slowing down also.
I saw earlier that one of the companies (Verizon) no longer ‘sells’ you a phone ... you can upgrade after six months if you have paid 50 percent of the costs.
I guess people still stand in line for iPhones when they come out but the market is slowing.
That's not the way it works, Texas. What happens is that you are buying your iPhone or iPad on time, paying for it with your wireless bill as an extra charge every month. After a period of time, you can turn in your current iPhone or iPad for the next model (AT&T calls it their Next program) and simply get the next model, continuing with the same payment plan, only now it is extended for more months. If you choose not to exchange it, after 12, 18, 20, or 24 months, depending on the plan you chose, you own it, and your bill goes down by the amount you were paying for your iPhone/iPad payments. You can continue this for every new model as it comes out. BUT you do have to turn in your old iPhone/iPad or, if you want to keep it and hand it down, pay it off. The 50% of the costs is where it gets economical to do it, generally at the time when the newest model is being released.
I've generally handed my iPhones and iPads down in my family or later, sold them privately. It's always more than covered the upgrade costs because Apple products have excellent resale value. Other makes, not so much. I sold my Apple iPhone 5 for almost $400 which way more than paid for the downpayment and activation fees for my iPhone 6. This was a two year old iPhone. The carriers will take them in on trade and then refurbish them and sell them overseas to new customers.