In Norway several of the mobile phone telecom operators sell phones on down payment plans that cost nothing extra compared to buying it cash up front.
It has been like this for several years and it’s great!
You can pay a pretty low monthly down payment over a period of 36 month.
As far as I’ve been able to tell, I don’t even have to enter into any binding contract for any phone plan to buy the phone this way. And even if I did have to do that the most they are allowed to bind me to is 12 months, by law.
Consumer protection laws in my country are fabulous :)