Verizon is giving away free iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches - here's how you can get them

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Black Friday is coming up fast, and Verizon has a killer new deal on its website. Starting today, new customers on select Unlimited plans can get an iPhone 17 Pro Max, an A16 iPad, and an Apple Watch Series 11, all for free -- no trade-in required. Bought separately, those devices would cost over $2,000, so this is quite the deal. (T-Mobile is running a similar bundle deal right now, too.)

For the service, you'll need to either purchase a new smartphone line on Verizon's Unlimited Ultimate plan, which is $90 a month with Auto Pay enabled for a single line, or on the Unlimited Plus plan, which is $80 a month with Auto Pay enabled for a single line. These prices will remain locked in for the next three years. 

For the iPad and Apple Watch, you'll get them for free when paying for a new line for each on the Verizon Unlimited plan of your choosing. If you're a T-Mobile customer (or interested in becoming one), that other carrier is offering a similar bundle deal for the iPhone 17 Pro, Apple Watch SE 3, and iPad A16.

Also: Best Black Friday Apple deals

As is always the case with "free" device deals from carriers, it's not really free outright. You'll have to pay for the devices, but you'll get paid back over the course of 36 months in monthly installments (you can find the disclaimer here). But if you were going to buy any of these devices anyway, this is still a great deal in terms of being paid back over time. 

I should also mention that there are some limitations, because not every iPhone 17 Pro Max configuration is included. Only the 256GB model is totally free, by these standards. If you want to get either the 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max, you will have to pay an additional fee for the model. Color does not affect the pricing. You can get the 256GB phone in either Silver, Deep Blue, or Cosmic Orange.

Also: We found the 50 best Black Friday TV deals, and we're tracking them live

The same goes for the other two devices. You'll only be allowed to get the 128GB A16 iPad and a 42mm Aluminum Apple Watch Series 11 as part of the deal. Once again, color has no influence on the pricing. For the wearable, the band size doesn't increase the price. You can choose between the small/medium or medium/large band.

You already know that you must purchase Verizon's Unlimited Ultimate or Unlimited Plus plan to receive the free iPhone 17 Pro Max. It appears that this restriction does not apply to the other devices. For the iPad, it's free across the company's Welcome, Unlimited, and Unlimited Plus plans. Same thing for the Apple Watch: it's also free across all four of its plans: Unlimited, Unlimited Plus, Number Share, and Number Share Plus.

If you'd like, you have the option to add the iPhone to the Unlimited Welcome plan, but you'll need to pay an additional $10 per month on top of the service bill.

How I rated this deal 

As per ZDNET's rating system, I give this deal a perfect score of 5 out of 5. The free iPhone (over time) alone is worthy of the perfect score, but here you get three of Apple's latest devices for free. Apart from T-Mobile's own iPhone promotion, I don't think any other Black Friday deal comes close to the value that this provides in the long run.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is the company's latest flagship smartphone. Like the base Pro model, it features the powerful A19 Pro chipset and arguably boasts the best camera system on an iPhone to date. What makes the Pro Max model stand out is its absurd runtime of 39 hours of video playback on a single charge.

If you've been looking for an opportunity to upgrade, I highly recommend the iPhone 17 Pro Max.