As rumored last week, Apple is indirectly lowering the price of the iPhone XR in Japan through larger carrier subsidies. On a 24 month contract, new customers to NTT Docomo can save about $100 over the life of their plan with the new reduced price.
The carrier business model in Japan relies on device subsidies to attract customers, similar to how the US smartphone market used to work. Total instalments for iPhone XR 64 GB on a 24 month contract would total 36,000 yen before this announcement. Now, the device cost drops to 24,000 yen (excluding the price of the mandatory contract fees).
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