Affiliate Disclosure
If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy.

Apple's iPhone 5 to launch on US prepaid carrier Cricket Sept. 28

Cricket on Thursday became the first prepaid carrier to announce it will carry Apple's new iPhone 5 starting Sept. 28.

Apple's latest iPhone will be available through U.S. carrier Cricket with pay-as-you-go pricing. The same company was also the first prepaid carrier to offer the iPhone earlier this year, when it gained access to the iPhone 4S.

Cricket Wireless is a prepaid subsidiary of Leap Wireless, which offers "unlimited" data plans under a "fair usage policy" of 2.3 gigabytes per month. It has a total of 6.2 million subscribers.

In an announcement on Thursday, Cricket Communications said the iPhone 5 will be available to customers in "select Cricket markets" beginning Friday, Sept. 28. No information on pricing or any potential pre-order period was given.

Pricing on the iPhone 4S was $500 for the 16-gigabyte model without a service contract. The carrier also offered the 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 for $400 contract-free.

Cricket offers $55-per-month "unlimited" plan that includes talk, text and data. The carrier offers wireless voice and mobile data services over 4G LTE and 3G CDMA through its parent company, Leap, which is the owner of the seventh largest wireless telecommunications network in the U.S., with coverage in all 50 states.