The latest battle in the carrier wars between Sprint and T-Mobile is over iPhone 6s monthly pricing. Sprint announced today, the day before the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus launch, that it will give customers a new iPhone starting at $1 per month.
The $1 offer is available to users who are trading in an iPhone 6 for a 16GB iPhone 6s. Sprint is also offering them a 16GB iPhone 6s Plus for $5 per month. Phones with larger memory capacity are also available at a highly reduced price, with the 64GB and 128GB iPhone 6s available for $5.77 and $10.53 per month respectively. The Plus models are $9.77 and $14.53 per month respectively.
Apple moved to cut carriers out of iPhone sales earlier this month when they introduced a monthly payment plan with Apple Care included, giving customers the opportunity to upgrade to the new iPhone yearly starting at about $32 per month.
T-Mobile almost immediately undercut Apple’s pricing with a $20 per month offer, kicking off this race to the bottom of the iPhone pricing barrel. T-Mobile recently cut that monthly price to $5 with the trade-in of an iPhone 6.
Sprint recently lost its position as the nation’s third-largest carrier to T-Mobile after the success of the Bellevue-based carrier’s revamped Jump! upgrade program. Recently, the CEOs of both companies have gotten into Twitter spats over pricing and advertising. Today, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure asked T-Mobile CEO John Legere to upgrade his company’s pricing charts, with “no BS.”
@JohnLegere time to update your charts. And please no BS this time. Just be truthful. pic.twitter.com/gamyMwvqRc
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) September 24, 2015
The Sprint offer will be available in-stores starting tomorrow and runs for a “limited time.” It is only available for in-stock iPhones, so supply constraints may limit the pricing plan’s availability.
