AT&T’s own deals page and Verizon’s own September 10 news release each publish iPhone 18 Pro trade-in credit worth up to $1,200 this pre-order weekend, with the tiers spelled out on the carriers’ own sites. T-Mobile’s pages returned an access error on every attempt made for this report, so its terms cannot be confirmed here.
Pre-orders opened Saturday, September 12, and each carrier’s own page was checked again on Sunday, September 13, the day this report was filed. Every figure below is quoted from a carrier’s own page or from a carrier’s own program terms as posted on Best Buy’s site. Nothing here comes from a rumor site or a forum post, and no figure has been estimated.
Key facts
| Carrier | What its own page states | Ceiling | Confirmed on |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T | “Get iPhone 18 Pro Max for up to $1,200 off” | $1,200 | att.com/deals/iphone-deals/ |
| Verizon | “up to $1,200 off” a new line, “up to $1,020 off” an upgrade | $1,200 | verizon.com news release, September 10 |
| T-Mobile | Pages would not load on repeated attempts | Not confirmed | t-mobile.com |
What AT&T’s own page says
AT&T’s deals page states plainly: “Get iPhone 18 Pro Max for up to $1,200 off” with a qualifying trade-in, and lists the iPhone 18 Pro itself as available for $0 with an eligible trade-in. The requirement is a trade-in of an iPhone 14 or higher, excluding the iPhone 16e, in any condition, paired with a qualifying installment plan and rate plan, open to new and existing customers. The page’s own disclaimer reads “Terms and restrictions apply. Subject to change. See offer details,” and states no expiration date.
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AT&T’s fuller trade-in program terms, as posted on its dedicated trade-in page on Best Buy’s site, break the $1,200 ceiling into tiers by plan and device value:
| Trade-in device value | Top-tier plan (Premium 2.0 or qualifying legacy unlimited) | Mid-tier plan (Extra 2.0, Legacy Starter, Starter SL) | Value 2.0 plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| $180 or more | up to $1,200 | up to $930 | up to $500 |
| $130 to $179 | up to $930 | — | up to $500 |
| $35 to $129 | up to $350 on any plan | ||
The terms attached to that table require a 36-month installment plan at 0 percent APR, note “$0 down available for well-qualified customers,” say bill credits begin “within 3 bill cycles,” require the trade-in to be completed within 30 days, and note a $35 activation or upgrade fee applies. No expiration date appears on this page either.
What Verizon’s own page says
Verizon’s September 10 news release states: “Trade in an eligible phone and add a new line to receive up to $1,200 off a new iPhone” on myPlan, while “customers upgrading an existing line can get up to $1,020 off when they trade in an eligible phone.” The same release describes a bundle: “Buy an eligible iPhone on Simplicity, Simplicity Plus, Pro or myPlan, or bring your own iPhone with a new line activation. Then, purchase the Apple Watch Series 12 and iPad on a 36-month interest-free payment plan and add a monthly service line for each device with Auto Pay. Verizon covers the cost of the devices by providing monthly credits over 36 months.”
A separate option skips trade-in entirely: “Get iPhone 18 Pro today with no trade-in, and return it in good working condition to upgrade to a new model every year,” tied to the Simplicity Pro plan at roughly $80 a month after discounts. Verizon’s own deals and financing page separately lists device-payment pricing of $33.33 a month for 36 months at 0 percent APR for the iPhone 18 Pro and $36.11 a month for the iPhone 18 Pro Max. None of Verizon’s pages checked here state an expiration date.
T-Mobile could not be confirmed this weekend
Every attempt to load t-mobile.com’s iPhone 18 Pro and general offer pages for this report returned a connection or access error. That is consistent with reports elsewhere describing a T-Mobile trade-in credit similar in size to AT&T’s and Verizon’s, but since none of that could be verified directly on T-Mobile’s own page, no T-Mobile dollar figure appears in this article. Readers should check t-mobile.com directly rather than take a secondhand number as confirmed.
Apple Watch Series 12 and AirPods 5 barely feature
AT&T’s deals page lists no promotion for Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4, or AirPods 5. Verizon is the exception, since its Apple Watch and iPad bundle rides on an eligible iPhone purchase and the specific plans named above, not a standalone Watch deal. Neither carrier’s page mentions AirPods 5 by name at all.
What Apple has not said
Apple’s own iPhone 18 Pro buy page lists carrier maximums in a footnote, up to $1,200 for AT&T and T-Mobile and up to $1,020 for Verizon, but Apple does not publish the plan-by-plan or device-value tiers that AT&T and Verizon show on their own sites, and it does not address why its T-Mobile figure cannot currently be checked against T-Mobile’s own page.
As of Sunday, September 13, AT&T’s and Verizon’s offers stand as quoted above, with no stated expiration date on either. Anyone who wants T-Mobile’s actual terms before iPhone 18 Pro arrives Friday, September 18, should check t-mobile.com directly, since it did not load for this report.
