There’s a difference between financing a phone and leasing it. A carrier subsidy is effectively a loan that you can use to buy the phone (which you then own).
In Canada all the major carriers are pushing leasing for the newest phones.
You can still finance the phone at a subsidized rate but the deals are with leasing.
Telus has "bring it back".
You pay 0$ upfront for the phone, but do pay an additional recurring monthly fee for the phone.
After 2 years you bring the phone back. If u want to keep it you have to pay for the remaining cost of the device.
If I just financed it, lower end or older phones would be $0 upfront, but high end phones be paying $500 as an example upfront on top of the financed recurring fees.
Rogers has "upfront edge" where you pay 0$ upfront for a top end device.
You have to return at 2 years.
Bell does the same thing with "device return options
Lower upfront costs.
The choice is yours: at the end of the 2-year term, you have the option to return your smartphone in good working condition, upgrade if you wish, or keep it and pay back the Device Return Option deferral amount.
It's too long since I entered these contracts, is it loaned/leased ?
Where I am the loan would be on the purchasing money, so technically you own the device, but would have to pay your carrier the remaining price + some penalty if you needed to stop the contract, or give back the device + penalty if you are not in a position to pay. The device stays with you after the loan/contract period is done.
There is still the carrier lockin, so you can't change carrier willy-nilly before the loan is paid, but that wouldn't stop you from selling your phone to someone else using the same carrier for instance.
Same in Sweden, if you can't afford to, or don't want to spend the cash for a >1000$ phone. You can lock yourself in for 12-24 months on a provider with a raised monthly fee. Very common in my experience.