Should I Upgrade My Pixel 7?

For starters, I’ve been with AT&T for the past 13 years, but I don’t think I’ve owned a subsidized phone from them since my original Lumia 822 in 2012. In my Windows Phone days, I usually just bought subsequent phones outright, especially near the end, when they were comparatively cheap. Since then, my employer supplied an iPhone for a while, and otherwise, I’ve generally found deals on decent used phones, including my current Pixel 7, which I scored in early 2023 for $300. I guess I’ve always had this fantasy that I could switch carriers at basically any time. But the truth is that I’ve been generally pleased with AT&T, and my wife and I now have multiple kids’ lines on our plan as well (their phones were bought used and owned outright as well).

Anyway, back to my question. About a month ago, my wife and I were in our local AT&T store upgrading her iPhone 11 (which, again, I bought outright from Apple back in 2020) to the latest iPhone 16. But they offered us $350 trade-in for her old phone, which does lock us into AT&T service for the next three years, but made her new iPhone about $10/month. At that time, I casually inquired about how much I could get for my Pixel 7, and to my astonishment, they said they’d give me $1050 trade-in toward a new Pixel 9 Pro. Meaning, I could basically get it for free*.

* (with a 36-month commitment to AT&T)

Even so, I’m really struggling to find the downside here. I mean, I know this would lock me into AT&T service for the next three years, but c’mon, my wife is already locked into the service for her phone, so I don’t realistically see changing carriers anytime soon. In fact, I’ve recently considered bundling my home Internet service with AT&T to get a better rate there as well. At least that would put both of us on essentially the same upgrade cycle. Plus, I understand that upgrading to the Pixel 9 also includes a year of Gemini Advanced. What do you think? Am I going to really notice the difference going to the Pixel 9 Pro? What am I giving up taking this deal and trading in my phone?