What Is AT&T Next Up? Upgrade your smartphone for $6/month

Tyler Abbott Contributing Writer

Updated 17 March 2026

In this Guide

What is AT&T Next Up?
How to Sign Up
Is It Worth It?
Pros and Cons
Best AT&T Plans

AT&T’s Next Up installment plan allows you to upgrade your smartphone early for $6/month. Once you pay off 50% of your current smartphone, you can trade it in and upgrade to a newer phone.

AT&T Next Up is ideal for customers who love having the latest and greatest smartphone, but it may not be the smart choice for customers looking to save money.

What Is AT&T Next Up?

AT&T’s Next Up installment program is a way to fast-track your phone upgrades for $6/month. Once you pay off 50% of your current smartphone, you can trade it in and upgrade to a newer model. You won’t have to worry about any remaining payments on your previous phone—those become completely erased when you upgrade to your new device.

Whenever you purchase a phone via installments, that monthly phone payment gets added to your overall phone bill, so you're paying for both the phone and your monthly data plan in one single payment. AT&T Next Up adds an extra $6/month to that overall price only after you've paid off half of your phone's total cost.

Here's what you need to know about AT&T's Next Up

$6/month
Customers must be on a 36-month device installment payment plan
Customers must be on a qualifying data plan of at least $75/month
Eligible for upgrade when device is 50% paid off
Can make additional upfront payments on device to upgrade even earlier
Requires a trade-in (phone must be in good, working condition)
Cancellations can be done at any time

You can find more details in AT&T's terms and conditions.

You can sign up for the AT&T Next Up program when you purchase a phone directly from AT&T. For example, if you wanted to buy the new iPhone 12 and sign up for AT&T Next Up in the process, it would look like this:

Make sure you opt for the AT&T Installment Plan enroll in the AT&T Next Up program. As you go through the checkout process, you’ll notice that you don’t have to pay any money down or incur interest, which is always nice, but you will have to pay taxes on your new device.

Once you pay up to 50% on the device (in this case, that would be around $550), you can trade-in your phone and upgrade to whatever newer smartphone you want. Your next phone payment will then be broken up into 30 monthly payments.

Is AT&T Next Up Worth It?

In order to determine if AT&T Next Up is worth it, let’s do some math to compare what would you pay to upgrade your phone with and without the AT&T Next Up plan. Let’s say you want to upgrade your iPhone 12 to an iPhone 13 Pro.

Scenario 1: Upgrading your phone without the AT&T Next Up program.

Let’s say you bought an iPhone 12 when it was released in 2020 and paid roughly $799 for your exciting new device. Time goes by and you decide to upgrade to an iPhone 13 Pro, which costs $999, once you pay off the 12. (You also trade in your old iPhone 12 and take advantage of any iPhone trade-in deals.) You keep the 13 and pay it off again before upgrading to the next iPhone.

All in all, you will have paid just shy of $1,800 for your two new phones.

Scenario 2: Upgrading your phone with the AT&T Next Up program.

Okay, now let’s assume you bought an iPhone 12 (costing $799) with the AT&T Next Up program. You make payments until you hit $400 paid off on your iPhone 12, which takes roughly 18 months, plus an extra $90 for the $6/month Next Up charge. You decide to upgrade to the iPhone 13 Pro—which costs $999.

After 14 months, you've paid off half of your iPhone 13 Pro's cost ($503), plus another $70 for the monthly Next Up charge, and you're ready to upgrade to the iPhone 15.

All in all, you’ll have paid a total of $1,063 for the same two phones, with the option to keep upgrading.

In the end, AT&T Next Up makes perfect sense for those of you who always want the latest and greatest phones. It’s the most cost-effective way to upgrade your phone as frequently as possible. On the other hand, if you’re not sure you’ll go through the process every 12–18 months, you’ll just end up paying an extra $5/month for nothing. And, you’ll always have a phone payment, whereas budget-minded customers may want to pay off their device and then keep it for as long as possible so they no longer have a monthly payment. Make sure you’re committed to upgrading your phone before adding Next Up to your monthly bill.

Pros and Cons of AT&T Next Up

Even though getting an early upgrade is an awesome benefit for customers that always need the latest and greatest devices, AT&T's Next Up plan still has some contingencies written in the fine print that are worth considering before you sign up. Take a look below.

Pros & Cons

Early upgrade when device is paid down by 50%
Pay off your new device in 30 months
Get a new phone every 1.5 years
Canceling early upgrade (65/mo) won't impact your installment plan
Must pay an additional $6/mo "membership fee"
Membership fee is not applied to the price of your device
Must be on a qualifying data plan of at least $75/month
Must be on installment plan for a 30-90 day minimum to upgrade

What's the Best AT&T Plan?

Naturally, you’ll need to pair your new phone with a cell phone plan that will help you get the best experience. The last thing you want is an awesome iPhone 12 with so little data that you can barely use it. AT&T offers a variety of cell phone plans that offer solid data speeds and coverage. Here’s a look at the postpaid plans AT&T currently offers:

#1	AT&T	AT&T Value 2.0℠ Unlimited 4G LTE/5G data AT&T 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 3GB mobile hotspot data Deal: Get up to $180 off for new line activation on Value 2.0 Plan via 36 months credit. Port-in required OR Get up to $800 Visa Reward card $50.00/mo + $35 Upfront View Plan	$50.00/mo + $35 Upfront	View Plan
#2	AT&T	AT&T Extra 2.0℠ Unlimited 4G LTE/5G data AT&T 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 50GB mobile hotspot data Deal: Get up to $360 off for new line activation on Premium 2.0 or Extra 2.0 Plan via 36 months credit. Port-in required. OR Get Up to $800 Visa Reward card $70.00/mo + $35 Upfront View Plan	$70.00/mo + $35 Upfront	View Plan
#3	AT&T	AT&T Premium 2.0℠ Unlimited 4G LTE/5G data AT&T 5G Network in select areas with compatible devices 100GB mobile hotspot data Deal: Get up to $360 off for new line activation on Premium 2.0 or Extra 2.0 Plan via 36 months credit. Port-in required. OR Get Up to $800 Visa Reward card $90.00/mo + $35 Upfront View Plan	$90.00/mo + $35 Upfront	View Plan

Our Best AT&T Plans guide breaks down each individual plan. You can also learn whether you can pay off your financed phone early.

Any questions or thoughts about AT&T Next Up that we didn’t cover here? Let us know in the comments below. Likewise, if you’ve recently upgraded your phone with AT&T Next Up, tell us about your experience!

Tyler Abbott

Contributing Writer

Tyler is a Contributing Writer who's always on the lookout for the best wireless tech so he can watch all the sports and still have enough time to hang out with his baby. He has written about streaming, wireless, and TV for over three years.

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