AT&T is taking the fight to Verizon and T-Mobile with the strongest pair of iPhone deals I've seen at the carrier yet

As someone who covers the best cell phone deals all year round, it's usually Verizon and T-Mobile that get the share of the coverage. Put simply, these two carriers tend to offer the most competitive promotions for new and existing customers alike.

Right now, however, AT&T is definitely offering some of the best deals – especially if you're on the hunt for a new iPhone.

The highlight? It has to be the carrier's deal on the iPhone Air right now, which is currently free with a new unlimited data line. That's not a newsworthy promotion by itself, but it's rare that you don't need a trade-in to be eligible. That's usually a rule that AT&T sticks to pretty steadfastly.

AT&T also has a few other interesting promotions you can stack to make this a stronger offering. Firstly, if you're a new online customer, you receive a $200 bonus eGift card for lower monthly costs. Secondly, if you're a multi-line user, then you can get four devices right now on an unlimited data plan that costs just $25/mo per line, which is a fantastic value for families.

Today's best iPhone deals at AT&T

• See more: check out all of today's phone deals at AT&T

Up until now, deals like the above have been the reserve of customers at T-Mobile and Verizon, so it's fantastic to see AT&T offer something similar for its users.

As previously stated, AT&T nearly always requires you to trade-in to get its biggest discounts, so it's actually quite newsworthy to see a device that's still valued at $1,000 available for free without any of the sorts. By all accounts, this promotion (when combined with the others) is better than those I saw at the carrier over Black Friday last year.

Of course, the iPhone Air isn't the most popular iPhone right now, so it's not entirely surprising that AT&T has singled out this device for such a strong promotion. Most people tend to go for the iPhone 17 Pro in this budget range because that device offers more cameras, better video specs, and better battery life. Don't discount the iPhone Air, however, as it's still an amazing phone for most people.