Buying a smart phone on contract sometimes can be like a jail sentence. Not only you’re tied for 24 months but you would also need to fork out a huge sum of money upfront, which sometimes cost more in total than the actual phone itself. While there are some telcos offering zero waiver for upfront payments, you’re essentially still tied down to the same phone until your 24 months duration is up.
Maxis wants to change the way you buy your smart phones by introducing the Zerolution program. It promises absolutely no payment upfront, no contracts and no interest fee over your monthly payments. Best of all, this isn’t an Easy Payment Plan that requires a credit card. Everything you hate about a phone contract be gone. Sounds too good to be true? Read on to find out.
To get a phone through Zerolution, you’ll need to pick a new MaxisONE Plan that starts from RM98/month and then pick the phone you want. By default, the monthly payment is calculated over a 24 months period and if you decide to leave, you’ll just need to pay the balance without any penalty charges.
For those that want to own the latest phones every year, there’s an early upgrade option at RM30/month. So after 12 months, you can surrender your current device and switch to a newer phone without any penalty or upgrade cost. Just pick a new phone and pay the new monthly payment.
In order to upgrade, the device must be in good working order which means no cracked screen or serious dents on the device. If the device is not in good order, a RM300 fee will apply. For better peace of mind, they are offering a device protection at RM15/month that’s comes with 48 hours replacement.
For now the Zerolution program covers 4 devices – the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, HTC One M9+ and the Samsung Galaxy A7. All new flagship devices will be available on Zerolution moving forward and gradually its existing line up including the iPhone 6 will be offered later.
Considering the easy ownership and zero penalty charges involved, the Zerolution is a hassle free way of owning a device. This isn’t a leasing program as you do own the phone after 24 months. If you calculate the monthly payment over 24 months it is cheaper than buying the phone outright at full retail price. That’s of course without the optional early upgrade (RM30/month) and device protection (RM15/month) add-on.
For those that change phones on an annual basis, this can be seen as a leasing programme as you can swap phones easily without the hassle of trading in. Once you’ve completed the full 24 months period, the phone is yours to keep.
Below is one example of buying the Galaxy S6 on Zerolution versus a typical 24 months contract.
For more info, head over to Maxis Zerolution page.
