iPhone arrives at T-Mobile on April 12
The last domino has fallen: T-Mobile announced on Tuesday that it would begin carrying the iPhone in April, fulling a promise made earlier this year. At that point, Apple’s smartphone will be available on all four major U.S. carriers, as well as a number of smaller, regional carriers.
T-Mobile’s approach to selling the phone is a bit different, thanks to its recent plan to drop subsidies. Instead of a two-year contract with a subsidized price, qualified T-Mobile customers can get the 16GB iPhone 5 for $100 upfront, plus monthly payments of $20 for 24 months. The 32GB and 64GB iPhone 5 models, which will only be available online, will sport down payments of $200 and $300, respectively.
In addition, T-Mobile is also offering similar arrangements for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 “in select markets.” The older iPhones will be available for $70 and $15 down payments, respectively; while the 4S will also require $20 monthly payments over two years, the iPhone 4 only runs $15 per month.
With those monthly payments, the prices of the handsets work out to $580 for the iPhone 5, $550 for the iPhone 4S, and $315 for the iPhone 4. By comparison, an unlocked 16GB iPhone 5 will cost you $649 from Apple, an unlocked 16GB iPhone 4S will cost you $549, and an unlocked 16GB iPhone 4 will cost $450. Note, however, that unlike Apple’s unlocked offerings, T-Mobile’s phones are only unlocked once customers have paid off the balance they owe T-Mobile. Engadget has reported that the T-Mobile iPhone will be a slightly different version of the model currently sold for use on AT&T in the U.S., and that existing versions of that model (number A1428) will not be compatible with use on T-Mobile. Apple had not responded to a request for comment on that matter at the time of this writing.
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