AppleInsider Staff
Virgin Mobile will be the next U.S. carrier to receive Apple's iPhone 5 next Friday, when the base-level 16-gigabyte model will become available for $549.99 without a service contract.
When it launches on June 28, the iPhone 5 will be compatible with the carrier's "Beyond Talk" plans, which can be purchased for as little as $30 per month. The 32-gigabyte iPhone 5 will be available for $649.99, while the high-end 64-gigabyte capacity will be $749.99.
A Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk plan includes 2.5 gigabytes per month of full-speed data at 3G and 4G speeds. Data is throttled after users reach the maximum monthly limit.
The plan is available for $35 per month with 300 anytime minutes, but Virgin offers customers a $5-per-month plan discount if they sign up for automatic monthly payments with a credit card, debit card, or PayPal account. That means Virgin Mobile subscribers can obtain a new plan with unlimited messaging and data for $30 per month.
A jump to 1,200 anytime minutes is $45 per month, while unlimited calling runs $55 per month. Both are also qualified for the $5-per-month discount, bringing their prices down to $40 and $50, respectively.
Virgin Mobile began offering a 15 percent discount on iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S handsets a month ago. The company first started sales of Apple's iPhone a year ago, in June of 2012.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
22 Comments
Is it unlocked?
[quote name="Wurm5150" url="/t/158177/apples-iphone-5-headed-to-virgin-mobile-usa-next-week-for-550-off-contract#post_2350336"]Is it unlocked?[/quote] It's un-everything: it's a virgin.
Is it unlocked?
It darn-well better be unlocked, since you're paying retail for the phone without subsidies!
It darn-well better be unlocked, since you're paying retail for the phone without subsidies!
this looks $100 off retail prices to me, unless I am missing something. The way virgin works in canada is you get a "balance" on the phone that is reduce each month by 10% of the amount of youre plan. So if you take a $40 plan, each month the "balance" will be reduce by $4. In the US, its possible the $550 will come with a $100 balance (someone should check this out)
My wife iphone (unlock) is on Virgin in Canada, they have by far the best prices here. Has soon as my iphone contract if done, I will only buy unlock phones from now on, you can save a truck load of money doing this. A lot of people here have unlock Nexus 4 phones paid only $350 and they are all with virgins variable data plan. Those will pay about 1/4th of the total cost of someone buying an iphone 5 on a 2 years contract. To top it off, with unlock phones you can change providers on the fly, depending on prices and promotions.
My wife iphone is only $20/month + variable data rate plan that adjust to what you consume each months. It so beats of crap out of all other contracts its unreal. If Apple release a $300-$400 dollar iphone with a bigger screen I will buy it in a hearbeat, take a vingin contract and cancel my Bell contract
When my contract with VZ expires in August, I planned to go to straight talk...hadn't considered Virgin Mobile. But now I might!