UPDATE: Check out our Galaxy Note5 Telco comparison post.
With the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and S6 edge+ going on sale today, you can either buy it outright or purchase it with a typical telco plan. Since Maxis has launched its new Zerolution programme, you now have a third alternative which is something worth considering if you hate to be tied down with 24 month lock-in periods that comes with nasty penalty charges.
To refresh your memory, the Zerolution programme is a new way of owning a new smart phone and it comes with added device protection in a form of an insurance as well as the option to swap to a new phone after 12 months. There’s no hefty upfront payments and you can leave at any time without any penalty charges as long as you settle the remainder of your monthly installments in full.
The Galaxy Note5 is offered at RM138/month while the Galaxy S6 edge+ can be yours at RM156/month. These installment figures are inclusive of its RM30/month early upgrade fee, which allows you to swap to a new device after 12 months and RM15/month for extra device protection which covers theft and all sorts of damages to your device. Note that for the early device upgrade to happen, you would need to ensure that your device is in pristine condition, hence they have recommended the optional device protection offer. If the device is returned in unacceptable conditions, a RM300 fee might apply when you make a swap.
Even if you don’t plan to upgrade or need the extra device protection, the Galaxy Note5 effectively costs RM93/month, which in 24 months cost a total of RM2,232. That’s RM467 cheaper than the full retail price of RM2,699. The Galaxy S6 edge+ would effectively cost RM2,664 in the same calculation, which is a RM435 savings from its RM3,099 outright price.
Of course, the catch is that you’ll need to subscribe to their new MaxisONE Plan which starts from RM98/month. That comes with unlimited calls, SMS and 1GB of data. For every additional 2GB of data, it will cost you RM30/month extra. Note that the monthly subscription fee is charged on top of your monthly Zerolution phone installments.
For more info, head over to Maxis’ Zerolution page. If you’re still curious on how Zerolution works, you can read our earlier post.