If you want to buy an iPhone 15 this Black Friday and are hoping to get a good deal on one, well, I’ve got some good news and bad news.
I took some time to crunch numbers and figure out what the best Black Friday deal out there was at Canadian carriers and beyond. The bad news? There aren’t any truly crazy deals. The good news? You can probably save some money on an iPhone 15.
Before we go much further, it’s worth noting we’re focusing on the iPhone 15 for this piece. It’s the cheapest option overall and the most likely to have a deal attached to it. That said, most of what follows will still apply to the iPhone 15 Plus, Pro and Pro Max, the prices will just be higher.
To start, let’s look at Apple. The iPhone 15 starts at $1,129 at Apple. It’s also available for financing of $51.05/mo for 24 months at 7.99 percent APR. At the time of writing, Apple isn’t offering any deals, though the company will start giving gift cards of up to $280 with the purchase of eligible products. Whether the iPhone 15 will be eligible remains to be seen.
Carrier considerations
Aside from Apple, we’ve got the carriers. Now, there are a few things to note with the carrier deals. First, almost every carrier is doing some form of a ‘device return’ program, which means the carrier gives customers some kind of upfront or monthly discount if customers agree to return the phone after two years or pay back the difference.
Whether you do the device return option and pay to keep the iPhone 15 after 24 months or pay the higher monthly financing rate, the end total comes out to the same (give or take a few cents). So, we’re going to focus on using the device return option to get a lower monthly fee, and we’ll talk about paying to keep the phone in a bit.
The other consideration with carriers is that they also make you pay for a plan when you get a phone from them. So, our calculations included the minimum plan cost as well.
Freedom is the cheapest option
With that said, the absolute cheapest option for the iPhone 15 looks to be Freedom Mobile. Freedom charges $15/mo for the iPhone 15 on a minimum $45/mo plan with 40GB of 5G data. Freedom charges $409 to keep the phone after 24 months, which means you’re looking at a total cost of $1,440 if you return the iPhone 15 or $1,849 if you keep it. While that certainly seems like a lot, it’s the cheapest option by about $250.
Moreover, the cost breakdown reveals you’re paying a total of $769 for the iPhone 15 and $1,080 for the plan. Technically, that means you’re saving money compared to buying the iPhone 15 outright from Apple, assuming your current plan costs at least $45/mo (you’d need a $30/mo plan or cheaper for buying outright to be a better deal).
Rogers flanker brand Fido landed in second, but only if you go with the provider’s $39/20GB 4G plan and pay for some of the iPhone 15 upfront. Fido offers two payment options, either $0 down and $48.38/mo for 24 months or $361 down and $33.34/mo for 24 months. While these options work out to the same total cost ($1,161) for the phone, the former option locks you into Fido’s $60/40GB plan for a $2,601.12 total after two years. With the cheaper plan available with the latter payment option, you’re looking at roughly $2,907 total.
For that matter, every carrier other than Freedom charges about $1,161 for the iPhone 15, no matter how you slice it. The real differentiating factor is the minimum available plan price. Koodo, Rogers, and Virgin are tied for the next cheapest at $2,481 total, with Telus and Bell being the most expensive at $2,961 and $3,081 total, respectively.
Honourable mentions
Some honourable mentions here include regional players Vidéotron and SaskTel. Both have decent pricing on the iPhone 15 but for various reasons, I wasn’t able to complete my calculations with them.
Vidéotron charges $15/mo for the iPhone 15 on a $55/mo plan, and advertises that you can get the price down to $0/mo when you factor in the $200 Blackout Credit it gives customers plus trading in a device. However, I wasn’t able to determine how much you need to pay back to Vidéotron if you want to keep the device. You can also get a cheaper plan if you bundle it with other Vidéotron services. As such, anyone living in a region served by Vidéotron should definitely look into getting an iPhone 15 with them.
Similarly, SaskTel charges $16.67/mo for the iPhone 15 with its ‘Plus Pricing’ program, but I wasn’t able to determine what the minimum plan cost was (SaskTel doesn’t allow new customers to complete activations online). Again, it’s worth looking into if you live in Saskatchewan.
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