Here's why T-Mobile, Verizon or AT&T reps don't really push the iPhone X
If you think store reps are enjoying huge incentives to recommend this or other phone to you, that's obviously not the whole story, as a recent report by Chris Matyszczyk makes clear. Going around carrier stores, he couldn't find a single salesman pushing the iPhone X instead of other handsets, which was a bit unexpected given the price and eventual larger purchase commission that common sense would suggest.
Reps, however, commented that the infamous spiffs (incentives) to sell one phone or another are overblown, and each carrier has its own strategy to spur sales with larger discounts which, however, usually go for a short list of underperforming in terms of customer interest handsets. Apple's phones are simply not one of those, plus there has been a backlog in iPhone X deliveries from the get-go, which is just now starting to clear up. Here's what one rep, who had worked at all four carriers, had to say on the matter of spiffs:
When I worked at AT&T we had incentives for the S8. For every pre-order, we got an 8-dollar spiff. T-Mobile only has 'sell this much of that phone and we will give you that phone.' Sprint does not. Verizon, if we meet a quota and sell a certain amount of the phones, we get a free one.
Those free phones that the salespeople might get after hitting the quota, however, are never iPhones. "If we do get them, they are rarely from T-Mobile. There may be an incentive to win a free phone from LG or Samsung if you sell x amount of said device," said one guy from Big Magenta. Thus, a stealth reason for not pushing Apple's phones like the X enough might be that Apple never goes into carrier stores to present their gear for reps, as it feels there is enough hype and demand anyway.
Last but not least, it also comes down to the rep's individual feeling about the handset - if they deem the iPhone X not that much different from the 8 or 8 Plus to warrant the price difference, they will say so to people who are on the fence. In a nutshell, the salespeople said, they will try to sell you anything that will let them be done with you faster, and move on to the next person, as oftentimes the commission is the same whether they sell an X or a feature phone with a plan. As per one Verizon quota performer:
If you really want to know why you are led one way or the other, it's whatever I think is going to get you out of my store fastest, so I can move on to the next person. That's the only incentive we have to push certain models... "We aren't here to spend half an hour helping you figure it out.
Duly noted, but reps also commented that they don't want to cause customers the headache of switching to another mobile operating system. They warn users who want to go from Android to iOS that they will miss the consistent way to go back which on iPhones is all over the place, for instance. The same goes for those who tell them they want the latest Galaxy and are coming from iOS, too, who will miss their iMessage contacts, and have no iTunes purchases to resurrect. "Phones are investments. Why sell a phone the customer is not used to? Why curse them for 1 or 2 years? If you came to my store, I would explain the differences and make you see what you are deciding," ended one Verizon salesman on a high note. We'd have to add that then you also don't have to explain a whole lot of stuff to the Android or iOS newlywed, while there is a line in the store.
source: CNET
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