

Kinda depends. If you buy the phone outright it’s usually pretty similar in price, but most people finance, and then it is cheaper to buy separately because interest hits like a truck :D
I know a lot of people who can’t necessarily afford $200 minimum to drop on a phone, though, and that’s for one that really starts to struggle after 2 years to do anything other than the most basic call/text functionality


Huh, I’d never actually noticed they were higher price. Most of the time I’m buying the phone from the manufacturer’s website, and I at least didn’t see carrier locked phones on Motorola’s website when I got my last phone. Does make sense, though, given carriers will hope to subsidize some of the cost of the phone through the plan itself