On Tuesday July 6, the mobile operator Free released a new offer, Free Flex. The latter does not correspond to a box or a mobile plan. Free Flex corresponds to a new type of service, still little known in France: rental with purchase option.
What is the Free Flex offer?
According to the operator, the Free Flex offer is a new way to “treat yourself to your mobile” and is summarized through 5 important principles: Accessibility, transparency, flexibility, freedom and finally, responsibility.
The offer is simple, it no longer consists of paying for your mobile in one go, but of renting it, and after a certain time considering the accumulated amount as a purchase. In truth, the purchase is spread over 24 months, so it is accessible to all budgets. In addition, you do not accumulate packages, so the payment of your mobile plan and the rental of your phone are separated, so there are no additional costs, this is the principle of transparency .
With the Free Flex offer, the customer has two choices: Either return their phone after 24 months and therefore choose another one or, make the final purchase by paying the remaining monthly payments and the option purchase, so you will be the owner of your mobile phone.
This possibility of choosing freely corresponds to the principle of flexibility hammered out by Xavier Niel, the boss of Free mobile.
Obviously, this plan is without commitment like all Free mobile plans, so you can end it whenever you want, principle of freedom .
So what does responsibility mean? It's simple, your mobiles are simply recycled, that is to say? All your personal data is erased and the phones are repackaged again to be put back on the market. So, we do not have this following equality: one phone = one user, but one phone = several users. Thus, Free consciously promotes the circular economy, it is the principle of responsibility.
Is this the best mobile rental offer on the market?
At the time of writing this article, it is still too early to know. However, when we currently compare mobile plans on the market using a mobile plan comparator for example, we notice that Free is far from being in first place. Indeed, incumbent operators still have the advantage with millions of customers who have a mobile plan associated with a subsidized phone.
The Free Flex offer is still young, and even if it seems attractive, it will probably still take a little time to have the perspective necessary for an objective judgment. So, publicity stunt or real revolution in the smartphone rental market? Patience is the greatest virtue!
Objective of Free Flex
Breaking down the competition in the mobile rental market. We can summarize this approach by the sentence spoken by Thomas Reynaud during the presentation of the offer: “I challenge the competition to respond to Free Flex without losing 10 to 15% of their turnover”. Moreover, Free is only continuing the policy that the Company has applied in the mobile market since its sensational entry in 2012 with its mobile offer at just €2.
In addition, the company also aims to put an end to the smartphone subsidy policy which would push consumers to renew their smartphone early. Thus making it possible to reduce the carbon footprint of consumers as Xavier Niel (the CEO of Free) explains in an interview for the IFP: “ The interest is both for the consumer by giving him freedom of no longer be engaged. It is also a choice for the environment because we are not pushing the consumer to renew their terminal too quickly ”
However, a study by Arcep (Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Posts) on product obsolescence seems to contradict this truth. Indeed, the duration of individual use of smartphones would have increased between 2013 and 2019, from 6 to 12 months, for a total of 23 and 37 months.
The problem is that this duration remains significantly lower than the potential lifespan of a mobile terminal, which would be between 5 and 8 years. Normally, there are two risks of shortening this lifespan: software obsolescence and cultural obsolescence.
To conclude: Free Flex, a revolution?
Free's smartphone rental offer seems very attractive, but UFC-que-choisir still warns us about the risks associated with this type of offer. It will therefore be up to everyone to judge whether this LOA is made for them or not.
This principle of rental by purchase is certainly new or even revolutionary for the French market, but as always, it is not really from a global point of view. Indeed, the combined consequences of planned obsolescence and cultural obsolescence have pushed certain sellers to innovate on the rental route.
Indeed, Apple already offers rentals of its Macs and iPhones with the idea of changing smartphones often due to the marketing obsolescence that Apple intentionally causes.
However, what Xavier Niel offers with Free remains new in France, and it is very likely that as at the time of the €2 Free Plan, most smartphone sellers will also start to offer a plan of the same type. . In order to avoid losing market share in the future.
