1. Sign Up a Post-paid Unlimited Premium Plan

On top of that, the carrier is pulling from the same play book it used with its extensive trade-in deal for last year's S24 line, only this time around, the valuation tiers are even more generous and the fine print is much softer. To start, you need to sign up a post-paid Unlimited Premium plan — the earlier capped data plans do not work. Two, buy the device using AT&T's 36-month installment agreement. This step divides the sticker price by 36 and spits out a monthly payment of approximately $36, which you will never actually pay.

2. Old for New

But the trading in screen is where it really gets impressive. At the time of writing, you could get up to $1,300 off from AT&T covering any Galaxy S, Note or Z series phone sold in the past four years—even those with cracked screens. A busted-up Galaxy S21 in fair condition still fetches a full promotional value as the rebate is entirely bill credits, not re-sellable trade-in value. Mail in the old phone within 30 days of checkout and AT&T will automatically apply $1,300 credit to effectively post that makes every single $52 monthly installment free.

3. Add-on Bonuses

And you also get add-on bonuses on top of it all. Preorders before August 25th come with free storage bump to 512GB and a $200 Samsung e-certificate good for anything in the new Galaxy Ring and Book4 Edge lineups. AT&T will also waive activation fee for online orders, a $35 savings.

4. Porting a Number from Another Carrier

And, if you port in a number from any other carrier, AT&T is once again offering a $200 prepaid Mastercard that will come “8 weeks after activation,” or the amount of what you paid as sales tax on your purchase. This action was performed automatically. The only monthly cost is the $85 per month Unlimited Premium plan but that's for service, not the phone. At the end of 36 months you own the device and no longer receive bill credits.