Earlier this week, Amazon abruptly announced they would no longer serve lockscreen ads on their Prime Exclusive phones. The company said any new Prime Exclusive phones sold would come free of lockscreen ads and existing users would be updated. The one caveat for new users is, Prime Exclusive phones will increase in price by $20USD. The update was expected to start next week but some users are seeing the update coming today. We were surprised to see our LG G6+ Prime Exclusive flash the notification you see above.
The update seems to happen in the background and it has certainly taken the ads off the lockscreen and notification shade. The Prime Exclusive phones program is a really great deal for those who don’t want to pay full price. The LG G6+ retails for $799.99USD but you can pick it up with Prime for $519.99USD. That’s really a great price on a flagship LG device. Amazon gave several reason for removing lockscreen ads:
Starting tomorrow, Feb. 7, 2018, Prime Exclusive Phones will be available to customers without lockscreen offers and ads. As smartphone technology has evolved, we also want to evolve the Prime Exclusive Phone experience to ensure customers can easily use features such as the phone’s mobile unlock technologies like facial recognition and fingerprint sensors, as well as be able to personalize device lockscreens with photos or wallpapers. Customers who currently use a Prime Exclusive Phone will receive a free update starting this week with this change, which will remove the lockscreen offers and ads.
Prime Exclusive Phones will continue to be offered exclusively for Prime members with discounted prices and will be available unlocked, giving customers the freedom and flexibility to choose the wireless carrier and service that best fits their need. With a single sign-on experience, Prime Exclusive Phones provide Prime members quick and easy access to their Prime benefits through a pre-installed selection of popular Amazon apps, including tens of thousands of movies and TV shows with Prime Video; over two million songs, and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music; free unlimited photo storage with Prime Photos; free two-day shipping on millions of items; the Amazon Widget for access to personalized offers and deals; and more.
Do you own a Prime Exclusive phone? Have you gotten the update? Tell us in the comments below, or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
