"The subsidies are similar to last year. Nothing has changed even though the Device Distribution Improvement Act (Dantong Law) was abolished."
Employees at mobile carrier retail stores in Yeongdeungpo-gu and Jung-gu in Seoul, visited on the morning of the 19th when Apple released its latest smartphone, the "iPhone 17," in Korea, said as much. The iPhone 17 is the first new product Apple has introduced since the Dantong Law was abolished on Jul. 22.
A mobile carrier retail store official said, "Following the SK Telecom hacking incident on 4th and the recent KT small-payment hacking incident, some consumers expected that a subsidy race among carriers would be triggered to lure subscribers defecting to other carriers," adding, "All three carriers did not offer much in support funds. It's similar to last year."
◇ After the Dantong Law's repeal, extra support funds vary widely by store
Although the cap on extra support funds, which had to be provided within 15% of the common support funds, disappeared with the repeal of the Dantong Law, there was little competition on extra support funds on the ground, or the amounts were not as large as expected. Among the three carriers' retail stores visited in Yeongdeungpo-gu and Jung-gu in Seoul that day, the one offering the highest extra support funds for the iPhone 17 was LG Uplus at 300,000 won. According to the three carriers, for the iPhone 17 (256GB), which has a factory price of 1.29 million won, the common support funds (formerly publicized support funds) were only up to 260,000 won at SK Telecom, 250,000 won at KT, and 230,000 won at LG Uplus. Adding the 300,000 won in extra support funds means a maximum of 530,000 won in support. Subtracting the support funds from the iPhone 17 device price brought the actual purchase price down to 760,000 won.
Even when activating with the same carrier, extra support funds differed among corporate-owned stores, agencies, and resellers. Among agencies and among resellers, the amounts of extra support funds varied widely. Although the same iPhone 17 (256GB) model was chosen, extra support funds ranged from 50,000 won to 300,000 won. But even then, the offers came with conditions to port your number and use a high-priced plan. Many places offered no extra support funds at all for device upgrades. That is because the repeal of the Dantong Law allowed differential treatment between device-upgrade and number-porting subscribers. An employee at Retailer A in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, advised, "With the Dantong Law gone and extra support funds adjustable at each store's discretion, you need to shop around to activate a phone at a cheaper price."
In parts of Sindorim in Seoul, once dubbed a hotspot for illegal subsidies during the Dantong Law era, some stores quoted up to 500,000 won in extra support funds for the iPhone 17. An employee at Retailer B in Sindorim said, "It feels like this year is a bit lower than the extra support funds when the iPhone 16 was released last year," adding, "After the Dantong Law was repealed, the extra support funds seem to have been spread out to regular retailers, so it looks like they have decreased a bit here."
◇ Retailers say they will add extra support funds on top of the "25% plan discount"
Mobile carrier retail employees recommended taking the "25% optional contract plan discount" (hereafter 25% plan discount) instead of common support funds when buying the iPhone 17. An employee at Retailer C in Jung-gu, Seoul, said, "Even if you use a 100,000-won monthly plan, you can only get 250,000 won in common support funds," adding, "Because the total benefit from the 25% plan discount over two years (600,000 won) is much larger than taking the common support funds."
Another change after the repeal of the Dantong Law is that you can receive extra support funds even if you choose the 25% plan discount. That day, many retailers said they would pay more extra support funds when choosing the 25% plan discount than when choosing carrier common support funds. At six of the eight retailers visited, staff said that if you chose the 25% plan discount, they would provide about 50,000–150,000 won more in extra support funds than the common support funds. A telecom industry official said, "It seems carriers differentiated the amount of extra support funds between those choosing common support funds and those choosing the 25% plan discount to induce sign-ups for high-priced plans."
◇ The most popular model is "Pro," and the top color is "silver"
According to the three carriers, the top three most popular models were the same. The model with the most preorders was the iPhone 17 Pro. That was followed by the base iPhone 17 and the iPhone 17 Air. For preferred colors, for the iPhone 17 Pro, silver was the most popular, followed by deep blue and cosmic orange. For the base iPhone 17, orders were highest in the order of white, black, and lavender.