T-Mobile has announced that it’ll be selling the iPhone 5 starting April 12; it’ll be priced at $100 plus a $20-per-month equipment fee that must be paid for 24 months. “I can finally announce that the phone that redefined the industry has come to T-Mobile,” company president and CEO John Legere said at a New York press event on Tuesday.
As reported yesterday, T-Mobile’s no-contract plans are available starting at $50 per month for individual users and include unlimited text messages, unlimited voice minutes, data tethering, and data plans that don’t include overage fees, but are slowed down to 2G data speeds once you’ve hit your cap. The $50 plan includes 500 megabytes of 4G data; there’s a $60 plan with 2.5 gigabytes of 4G data and a $70 plan with unlimited 4G data.
(MORE: 5 Things You Should Know About T-Mobile’s New No-Contract Plans)
The T-Mobile iPhone 5 will work on the company’s existing HSPA+ network as well as its new 4G LTE network, which was launched today in Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Phoenix, San Jose, and Washington, D.C. and will expand over the coming months.
Customers will also be able to purchase the iPhone 4S for $70 down, plus $20 per month for 24 months; the iPhone 4 will cost $15 down, plus $15 per month for 24 months. Both will work on T-Mobile’s existing HSPA+ network and will be available “in select markets and select channels,” according to a company spokesperson.
“We are the only carrier that’s going to have HD Voice on the iPhone 5,” said Legere. With HD Voice, T-Mobile promises “nationwide crystal-clear high-definition calling and significantly reduced background noise.”
In a Q&A session, a T-Mobile representative mentioned that if a customer were to buy an iPhone 5 for $100 plus the $20-per-month equipment payment plan and that customer wanted to leave T-Mobile, the customer could do so. Though locked to T-Mobile until the handset has been paid off, the phone would work with SIM cards from compatible networks such as AT&T; the customer would simply need to continue paying the $20-per-month equipment payment to T-Mobile until the 24-month fee has been satisfied. Customers will be able to accelerate their $20-per-month equipment payments to T-Mobile in order to unlock handsets early, if desired. The company will also be offering a phone trade-in plan to offer “fair-market value” for an existing T-Mobile phone to go toward the purchase of a new T-Mobile phone.
The company will also soon begin selling the recently-announced HTC One, the BlackBerry Z10 and the Samsung Galaxy S4. The HTC One will be available “later this spring” but pricing hasn’t been officially announced; the BlackBerry Z10 is available “starting today” for $100 down and an $18-per-month equipment fee for 24 months ; the Samsung Galaxy S4 “will be available in the second quarter of this year,” according to T-Mobile’s press materials, but no pricing has been officially announced. Legere mentioned the S4 will be available “about May 1st,” and also mentioned that the HTC One will cost $100, but didn’t say what the monthly equipment payments will cost.
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