What you need to know
- T-Mobile is extending the length of its installment plans to 36 months for select devices.
- Smartwatches and tablets can only be purchased upfront in full or through three-year installment plans.
- For now, smartphones are still sold via 24-month installment plans.
This doesn’t come as a major surprise, as T-Mobile mistakenly added 36-month installment plans to its website in June 2025, according to The Mobile Report. Those quickly disappeared and the 24-month terms remained until this weekend, when T-Mobile rolled out 36-month installment plans for smartwatches and tablets. Customers now only have the option of paying for their device in full or choosing a T-Mobile installment plan with a term length of three years.
The updated terms heavily incentives T-Mobile subscribers to remain with the carrier for the length of the installment plan, and avoid upgrading their devices earlier. Like many carriers, T-Mobile entices users to sign up for installment plans by offering credits and promotions that lower the overall cost of a new device. Those “get a new phone on us” deals only apply when you sign up for an installment plan.
Signing up for a T-Mobile installment plan technically doesn’t lock you into paying for your phone service for the full three years. However, those promotional device credits are paid out on a monthly basis. That means if you cancel service or need to upgrade your device early, you’ll be on the hook for the remaining installment plan balance. In other words, people who buy tablets and smartwatches through T-Mobile installment plans can only upgrade every three years now, as opposed to two, if they want to get all their promotional credits.
The change is yet another occurrence where T-Mobile is caught using tactics it previously mocked competing carriers for employing. Just earlier this month, T-Mobile’s consumer group president acknowledged how 36-month installment plans limit upgrades and carrier-switching at the Wells Fargo Summit (via PhoneArena).
Remember, there was, you know, two of our competitors had, you know, introduced financing constructs over 36 months. That probably artificially suppressed some of the upgrade activity, some of the switching activity in the marketplace.
John Freier, President T-Mobile Consumer Group
The big question is whether T-Mobile’s longer installment plans will eventually extend to smartphones. For now, the 36-month term lengths only apply to tablets and smartwatches. If applied to smartphone plans in the future, T-Mobile would lose yet another differentiating factor between it and competitors like AT&T and Verizon.
