Visible ends the party
Verizon’s prepaid MVNO Visible last week overhauled its rate plans, including the elimination of popular Party Pay program that lowered the monthly price of the unlimited data plan to $25 when customers formed groups of four or more lines for the discount. Visible’s new entry-level plan, dubbed “Visible”, offers unlimited 4G and 5G data, unlimited mobile hotspot and unlimited talk and text to Canada and Mexico for $30/month. The upper-tier Visible+ plan, on the other hand, adds Premium Network Experience (50 GB of data until the line is deprioritized during network congestions), additional international roaming/calling features, and more importantly, access to the Verizon’s high-speed 5G UW millimeter wave network for $45/month. Customers on the legacy Party Pay program will enjoy their discounts until the end of the year.
The NPD Take:
- Visible’s elimination of the Party Pay program lowers the MVNO’s competitiveness against rivals’ family plan offerings (e.g., Metro by T-Mobile four-line unlimited plans starting at $25/month per line). Now that the Visible service is rebranded to feature the parent reference (Visible by Verizon), Verizon may consider extending the six-month free Disney+ subscription promotion it offers to Verizon Prepaid customers to new Visible customers to sweeten the deal.
- While Visible’s speed-based pricing scheme is like parent Verizon’s pricing scheme which excludes 5G UW access for its entry-level plan, it is important to keep in mind that the Verizon installed base of 5G UW capable phones is substantially bigger compared to Visible’s base, which is driven by BYODs.
Motorola Edge(s) Up
Motorola last week unwrapped its new mid-tier phone, the Edge (2022). The new phone is a downgraded version of the Edge+, Motorola’s flagship smartphone selling through Verizon. The new Edge (2022) drops or downgrades several of the features (such as the built-in stylus found in the Edge+ flagship) but still offers an impressive feature set including 30W fast charging, 6.6-inch FHD+ OLED display with 144 Hz refresh rate, two-way wireless charging with a $499 price tag.
Incidentally, one other notable change in the spec list is the replacement of the Edge+’s Snapdragon silicon with the low-cost MediaTek Dimensity 1050 silicon, which helps Motorola bring the MSRP down to $500. The new Edge (2022) is also the first non-Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered smartphone supporting Verizon’s 5G UW network. And, unlike in the case with the initial Edge and Edge+ smartphones, Verizon will not be the only major US carrier offering the phone. In fact, T-Mobile will be the first postpaid carrier to begin selling its version (8GB RAM and 128 GB Storage) of the Edge (2022) with AT&T and Verizon following with the debut of their own versions (Verizon - 8GB RAM and 256 GB Storage, AT&T- 6GB RAM and 128 GB Storage). Notably, thanks to the low RAM configuration, AT&T will offer its version for $180 ($5 x 36 payments).
The NPD Take:
- The new Motorola Edge (2022) packs many features at $499, and with carrier subsidy support (such as in the case with AT&T’s $5/month payment scheme) it will be a major threat to rival offerings such as Google’s new Pixel 6a as well as Samsung’s popular Galaxy A50 series smartphones.
- Motorola has done a remarkable job of filling in the shoes of LG, which has exited the market a year ago, and it has a solid number two position in Android volumes thanks to its strong sub-$300 device lineup. According to NPD’s Connected Intelligence Mobility survey, 21% of Android smartphone owners consider Motorola as their next device brand.