I was under the impression that most phone plans already worked this way. People do not buy the phones on a plan, they receive an initial purchase subsidy at the beginning of the contract and pay towards the phone over the contract until they can say they own the phone.

I've never seen a plan where there was an additional charge at the end of the contract to own the phone. That's new to me.

At least this pricing scheme seems more transparent. Consumers know that the price of the phone is $20 a month for 24 months or $480 plus the price to buy at the end of the contract. When I used to buy contract phones they didn't even specify that much.