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【Updated 2022.11.28】On Black Friday, I went to Walmart and bought an iPhone 13 Pro Max 128GB. I only paid $70 in tax, with no activation fee, and the remaining device balance was $999.

It is currently out of stock online, but there may still be inventory in stores. I also received the Walmart $500 gift card in less than an hour after leaving the store.

In addition, the $600 cash back for the four new AT&T lines opened through TopCashback has also tracked. If you are interested, do not miss it. This Walmart promotion will run through 12/2.

The annual Black Friday sale has started. One of the biggest reader interests is how to buy an iPhone conveniently and cheaply. We have previously recommended related phone-buying offers from Costco, Visible, and Best Buy. If you are not familiar with them, see our earlier posts:

Here we will mainly introduce Walmart's iPhone deal.

Promotion Period

  • Online starts at 7pm Eastern Time on November 21, 2022 (Walmart+ members get access 4 hours early) and ends on December 2
  • In store starts at 6am local time on November 25, 2022 and ends on December 2

Promotion Details

  • Buy a new phone and get up to a $500 Walmart gift card

The gift card amounts for the main models are as follows:

  • iPhone 14 Pro - ($949 phone cost + tax + activation/upgrade + 1st month of service) - $300 gift card
  • iPhone 14 - ($779 phone cost + tax + activation/upgrade + 1st month of service ) - $300 gift card
  • iPhone 13 Pro - ($899 phone cost + tax + activation/upgrade + 1st month of service ) - $450 gift card
  • iPhone 13 Pro Max - ($949 phone cost + tax + activation/upgrade + 1st month of service ) - $500 gift card
  • See Walmart's official page for other models

You can also get up to an extra $250 Walmart gift card when you trade in an old phone. (Requires devices such as Samsung S20 Ultra 5G, iPhone 12 64GB, or newer.)

You must choose an installment plan with AT&T or Verizon. Note the distinction from a contract phone: an installment-plan device is not a contract phone. Once you pay off the remaining device balance, you can unlock it early, and in general it can be unlocked after about two months of use.

Strategy Guide (2021 version, for reference)

In general, either online or in-store works. The advantage of buying online is that you may be able to stack cash back from shopping portals, and there is no activation fee. Going to a physical store usually adds a $30 activation fee, and you may have to wait in line. The advantage of buying in store is that you can get the new phone and the gift card the same day. Online orders require waiting for the phone to be shipped, and the gift card generally takes about two weeks to arrive as an electronic gift card. If you do not want to wait, you can buy online on the 21st and get a $500 e-gift card. For in-store purchases, the gift card will be emailed within 24 hours after the phone is connected and the plan is activated. For online purchases, the gift card will be emailed within 20 days after the phone ships.

One thing to note is that only AT&T or Verizon versions are available. We recommend AT&T here because this deal requires a postpaid plan and will involve a credit check, but AT&T uses a soft pull, which generally does not affect your credit score. In addition, choosing AT&T lets you participate in its port-in promotion to lower your overall cost. Of course, AT&T now only gives bill credits, spread over 10 months, so if you are not a long-term AT&T postpaid customer, you probably will not get much value from that. However, you can still participate in the TopCashback port-in promotion. The link is below:

Right now it is double cash back: add one line and get $150 back, with up to four lines per user. You can qualify for the cash back after using the service for one month. If you have not signed up for TopCashback yet, feel free to use our referral link:

So one possible play is to place the Walmart order online first, then after receiving and activating the phone, take advantage of the TopCashback double cash back promotion by adding four lines to earn the port-in gift cards. In the end, in addition to the Walmart gift card, you can also get an extra $150 gift card per AT&T port-in line. Your main costs are the device cost and the plan charges. Generally speaking, if you pay off the remaining device balance early and use the service for 40 days, you can contact customer service to unlock the device. When ordering an AT&T iPhone from Walmart online, a new line will be created (upgrade may also work). That line only needs to stay active for two months, while the two port-in lines only need to remain active for 1 month before cancellation. That should not affect your TopCashback cash back, and having multiple lines can also lower the average plan cost per line.

Using the iPhone 13 Pro Max 128GB as an example, the phone cost is $949 + tax (about $1,015 total). First, open four lines through TopCashback and keep them for one month; including tax, the cost is about $154. TopCashback pays $600 back (usually credited after about 14 weeks), and if redeemed as a Visa gift card, you can get $630. If your Walmart AT&T iPhone order can be processed as an upgrade, then you only need to pay for one additional month of service ($65 + tax; the other lines can be canceled after one month, leaving just one line). If you need to open a new line, then with multiple lines, the total monthly cost for 5 lines is about $170 plus tax (roughly $20 effective cost for the new line). After using the four TopCashback lines for one month, cancel them, then keep the new Walmart line for one additional month ($65 + tax). If you activate in store, there is a $30 activation fee. Many users also have Chase/BoA AT&T offer. With the $500 Walmart gift card, the final effective cost works out to only about $150.

In addition, Walmart+ members can get access 4 hours early. The AMEX Platinum card includes Walmart+, so be sure to use it.