It’s payback time for handset makers that long profited from Americans’ tendency to upgrade their mobile phones early and often.
U.S. consumers got a taste for phone financing two years ago and never looked back. They bought fancy new devices for a few more dollars a month with no service contract attached. Now they’re holding on to their old smartphones longer than they did when they signed two-year contracts and got freebies, spelling further trouble for manufacturers like Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. that have struggled with declining sales.
