AT&T will be offering various breaks to current iPhone owners to induce them to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G, which debuts July 11.

The new models will cost $200 less than comparable first-generation iPhones—potentially leaving those who recently bought the older model stuck with a fairly new, already outmoded phone.

Anyone who bought the original iPhone on or after May 27 will be able to return it and receive a refund on the price difference between comparable new and old iPhones, minus a 10 percent restocking fee.

"We just want to be fair to customers who were very, very late purchasers of the 2G iPhone," said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel in an interview. Anyone who merely bought earlier—including merely "very late"—will be out of luck on the returning their iRelic and receiving a refund on its price difference with the new model.

Refund or not, anyone who upgrades from original to 3G iPhone will have to sign a new 2-year contract that begins when they take possession of the new phone. And, as we previously reported, they'll have to pay $10 more per month for the data plan. Those who hold on to their old iPhones won't see a data-plan increase—even when they renew their contracts, according to Siegel.

AT&T is taking a quiet approach to publicizing these policies. Siegel maintains they've been in effect since the new iPhone was introduced. Yet there's no mention of them in the iPhone press release or on AT&T's Web site.

—Mike Gikas