[MichaelZuo]

I think it's impossible to buy a phone from any of the major carriers online without seeing the full upfront price at least a few times on screen.

And in store there's clearly the price tag right beside the demo model.

So hard to see how its obsfucated like healthcare.

[throwaway48476]

I buy cheap phones for projects so have experienced exactly this. If you go on any prepaid WISP site and look at their device selection ordered by lowest price there's always an asterisk and the quoted price is based on some kind of contract.

[MichaelZuo]

The prepaid phone models available are usually the cheaper phones?

Or is there some carrier that sells the expensive $1000+ phones on prepaid plans?

[throwaway48476]

Typically the $1000+ premium phone market is for unlocked phones sold directly from the manufacturer.

The locked phones are usually sub $250 and have some kind of finacial gimmick to get the sticker price lower. Often it will be some carrier specific model name. Just sort by price low to high and you'll find them.

[MichaelZuo]

Huh? I'm talking about the US?

ATT, Verizon, and Tmobile are selling many many expensive phones, locked, on 24 momth payment plans, literally hundreds of possible configurations of dozens of models.