PSA: Circles.Life’s no-contract installment plans for iPhone 7 & 7 Plus are now available

Note: This article was first published on September 15, 2016.

By now, your average Singaporean phone user should be familiar with how the traditional telcos bundle the iPhone into their price plans. Conventionally speaking, the plan ties the user to the telco for 24 months. The user will still pay the same monthly fee even after the bundled cost of the smartphone has already been paid off within the 24-month contract.

While it was a tidy arrangement for folks who change smartphones every two years, it wasn’t as perfect for users who do not follow the upgrade cycle. Basically, you’re paying the same amount every month, while shelling out money on the side to pay for no-contract devices.

Circles.Life reached out to us to share more about their no-contract smartphone offer. In a nutshell, a Circles.Life subscriber can have an independent mobile plan, while paying for their no-contract iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus in monthly installments. Once the phone’s paid for, the monthly installments end. All this – without interfering with your current Circles.Life subscription.

According to Circles.Life, this extra service also helps their subscribers avoid making a physical trip down to a shop to buy their iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus. They were keen to add that the entire process can be done online, or via their Circles.Life app.

To prove their point, Circles.Life sent us a simple cost-savings calculation by comparing costs. It was done across a Singtel plan with a bundled device, versus a similar but independent Circles.Life plan while. factoring in the cost of getting a no-contract phone. The two examples below are specifically for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, 32GB and 256GB versions.

Disclaimer 1: The claims and numbers in the table are provided by Circles.Life, and HWZ only checked it for any rounding or calculation errors.

Disclaimer 2: We are also aware how a comparison between bundled phone plans versus an independent phone plan with phone price included isn’t exactly apples-to-apples, which is why this was not included in our typical price plan comparison coverage.

Head on to our next page to see what else Circles.Life said about their no-contract phone’s installment payment service.

Calculations aside, we also reached out to Circles.Life for details pertaining to the limitations and restrictions on enjoying installment-style payment for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. We’ve gone through their terms and listed some of the noteworthy clauses below, and we highly recommend that you read their full Terms & Conditions and FAQ here for a better understanding.

• One subscriber is entitled to one phone purchase. As quoted from Circles.Life’s rep below:

“For the moment, you can only purchase a phone at checkout upon applying for a new Circles.Life plan. It’s only limited to one phone per new line subscription. The option to purchase a phone is just to offer an alternative to potential sign-ups who want to avoid the hassle of heading down to Harvey Norman or Courts to buy a phone.”

• There are no interest fees for the phone’s installment, and it’s restricted to certain credit cards. From their FAQ here:

“You can get access to our great 0% interest installment plan for mobile devices when you initially build your Circles.Life plan with a credit card. Please note we only allow use of DBS, POSB and UOB credit cards.”

 

• The phone’s installment payment is separate from your Circles.Life plan. As quoted from the Payment section of their T&C:

“Payment for the Products can be made using our payment partners on an upfront or via installment basis through your credit card as available under your credit card by your credit card company. We are not responsible for any installment payment arrangement that shall be solely managed between you and your credit card company and may be different from the amount charged under any bill issued by us.”

• By default, there’s no Circles.Life warranty for your new phone. As quoted from the After Sales Service and Warranty segment:

“All after sales services and warranties are provided by the respective manufacturers of the Products. We are not obligated at any point or in any circumstance to provide after sales services and warranties to the Customer in relation to the Product.



We may provide an option to provide third party insurance on the Product. We will refer you to the terms of the applicable third party insurance as provided by the third party insurance provider.”

To sum it up: it's nice to have options, be it in the form of bundles or otherwise.

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