iPhone 5 Release: Smartphone Sees Price Increase After One Month On T-Mobile

Those who took advantage of T-Mobile’s discounted price on the iPhone 5 will be happy they bought their phones when they did; the network has now increased the smartphone’s cost, culminating a one-month promotion introducing the iPhone to the mobile carrier.

T-Mobile officially began carrying the iPhone 5 in early April after years of informally powering SIM-unlocked Apple smartphones. The iPhone 5 was initially priced at a $99.99 down payment, as per T-Mobile’s “non-contract” plan, in which customers finance high-end smartphones with an up-front cost plus $20 installments over 24 months. Customers also had the option of paying off the phone entirely for a discounted $579.99 during the promotion.

The price of the iPhone 5 now starts with a $149.99 down payment for the 16GB variant or $629.99 at full price, as per T-Mobile’s website. This puts the iPhone 5 on par with the recently released Samsung Galaxy S4, which sells for the same price.

The iPhone 5’s 32GB and 64GB variants have also seen price increases, to $249.99 down or $729.99 total and $349.99 down or $829.99 total, respectively.

While the price increase may seem sudden, T-Mobile always intended its initial pricing of the iPhone 5 to be strictly promotional; however, the carrier never indicated how long the promotional period would last. Reports indicate that approximately 500,000 customers took advantage of T-Mobile’s discounted iPhone 5 price in the month since it began offering the device.

Those who didn’t get the deal can at least benefit from T-Mobile’s non-contract plan, which offers unlimited talk and text and 500MB of high-speed data for $50, as well as options for 2GB of additional data for $10 extra or unlimited 4G data for $20 extra. T-Mobile’s plan reportedly equates to a savings of close to $600 compared to two-year contract plans on AT&T, Sprint or Verizon.

Those truly aching for a discount can buy the iPhone 4, which T-Mobile also offers, for just $18.00 or the iPhone 4S, which sells for $69.99. Customers can also hold out for the next iPhone, possibly the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6. Once a next-generation Apple device is released, the iPhone 5 will likely see a significant price drop.