Thinking about picking up a new AT&T device in the near future? If you're planning on making the purchase this Sunday or anytime after, be prepared to face a higher upgrade fee than you would've paid in the past. Documents have been leaked showing that AT&T will be doubling its upgrade fee from $18 to $36 effective this Sunday, February 12th. AT&T responded to the leak with a statement confirming the decision, explaining that the move is due to an increase in the costs associated with upgrading to a device. The full statement from AT&T:

"Wireless devices today are more sophisticated than ever before. And because of that, the costs associated with upgrading to a new device have increased and is reflected in our new upgrade fee. This fee isn't unique to AT&T and this is the first time we're changing it in nearly 10 years."

Even though the upgrade fee isn't something that a customer is going to be facing on a frequent basis, it's still a bit of a bummer to see the cost of upgrading to a new device go up. Of course, as Engadget points out, AT&T isn't the only carrier that's hiked its upgrade fee as of late, as Sprint also bumped its fee to $36 late last year. I suppose the good news here is that we've gotten wind of the change ahead of time, so those of you that are thinking about upgrading to a new AT&T handset and really don't want to pony up the extra $18 can avoid doing so by buying a new device tomorrow.

Via Engadget