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iPhone 4 drops to $99 while Apple makes iPhone 3GS free with contract

As was rumored, Apple has opted to keep the iPhone 3GS alive as a free phone with a new service contract, while the 2010 iPhone 4 is now $99 with a carrier subsidy.

Both the $99 iPhone 4 and the free iPhone 3GS carry internal storage capacities of 8GB. The iPhone 4 is built on the custom A4 chip, while the iPhone 3GS, first released in 2009, is powered by an earlier, less-powerful ARM processor.

Both devices are still capable of running iOS 5, Apple's next generation mobile operating system, though not all of the features of the update are available for every device. The iPhone 3GS was previously sold for $49 with a two-year contract.

The 8GB iPhone 4 is a newly redesigned low-cost model from Apple. Previously the handset was only available in capacities of 16GB and 32GB, but it has been replaced at those sizes by the the new iPhone 4S, which is also available in a high-end 64GB capacity.



42 Comments

neiltc13 19 Years · 180 comments

iPhone 3GS has been free with contract for a good couple of years now. This isn't news, other than that it is now free with contract on a couple of other carriers.

saarek 17 Years · 1589 comments

Surprised about this, figured they'd either keep the cheap 3GS shell and bump up the CPU or keep the iPhone 4 design.

lamewing 17 Years · 742 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by neiltc13

iPhone 3GS has been free with contract for a good couple of years now. This isn't news, other than that it is now free with contract on a couple of other carriers.

Not in the U.S. I guess we Americans aren't the only idiots who don't think about the rest of the world.
My question is if the iPhone 4 8GB is $99 and the iPhone 4S 16GB is $199 ... what will be the price of the current iPhone 4 models?

sapporobabyrtrns 16 Years · 844 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamlinator

By keeping the 3GS around, Apple is just acknowledging that the 4S is not the advance that everyone expected and that the 3GS is still a viable alternative.

Can the 3GS run Siri? Survey says: No. Not to viable unless you want to make calls and send texts. They keep them around because they have them in the inventory and after a few months they will quietly disappear....

bigdaddyp 19 Years · 810 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamlinator

By keeping the 3GS around, Apple is just acknowledging that the 4S is not the advance that everyone expected and that the 3GS is still a viable alternative.

Uhmm, not necessarily. The iPhone 3gs is still a very good phone (ymmv) and I bet many average non techie folks will pick a free 3gs over the disposable freebie of the week that carriers shovel out.