Smartphone subsidies are fading away in favor of payment plans

For years, it’s been standard practice to buy an expensive smartphone from your wireless carrier at a reduced price in exchange for signing a contract that commits you to that carrier for a couple of years. However, more and more people are abandoning this payment method in favor of cellular plans that spread out the full cost of a smartphone over the course of several months. People prefer this so much, in fact, that AT&T believes that smartphone subsidies will soon vanish entirely.