Apple
T-Mobile iPhone 5 to Launch at UnCarrier Event?
The T-Mobile iPhone 5 may become a reality at the T-Mobile Uncarrier launch event on Tuesday.
After confirming that a T-Mobile iPhone is in the works back in January, there are new sources that point to a T-Mobile iPhone 5 launch at the T-Mobile vent scheduled for Tuesday morning.
The latest rumors point to a T-Mobile iPhone 5 with LTE capabilities headlining the Uncarrier event and bringing an Apple device to T-Mobile for the first time in an official capacity.
The T-Mobile iPhone 5 could arrive tomorrow.
The latest rumors comes from Cnet, which claims Apple is planning to announce a T-Mobiel iPhone 5 at the Uncarrier event in New York City on Tuesday morning at 11 AM Eastern. This lines up with previous rumors that pegged the T-Mobile iPhone release date for March or April.
A T-Mobile iPhone 5 is reportedly set to, “play a prominent role” in the Uncarrier event, and will join the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and BlackBerry Z10 as flagship T-Mobile LTE devices.
T-Mobile recently pushed a Galaxy Note 2 update that enables LTE radios on the T-Mobile version. The T-Mobile BlackBerry Z10 release date is set for tomorrow, March 26th, with 4G LTE support out of the box.
Current rumors suggest T-Mobile 4G LTE will launch in Las Vegas and Kansas City as well as Denver, New Orleans, New York, San Diego, San Jose, and Seattle.
New T-Mobile iPhone 5 Plans
The new T-Mobile plans skip an annual contract and with it the discount typically offered on a new smartphone. Instead of offering the discount, T-Mobile is letting users pay a small amount upfront, and then pay the rest of the phone off with monthly payments. Users can also choose to pay in full at the start. With this plan, users could also pay off a phone after a few months and then upgrade to another phone at any time, or leave for another carrier.
Possible look at a T-Mobile iPhone 5 plan, before the price of the iPhone 5.
The new Uncarrier T-Mobile plans are not just for the iPhone 5, but they may be the only plans for a T-Mobile iPhone 5. The new T-Mobile plans are as follows.
- Unlimited Talk +Text + Web with 500MB of 4G LTE for $50 a Month
- Unlimited Talk +Text + Web with 2.5GB of 4G LTE for $60 a Month
- Unlimited Talk +Text + Web with Unlimited 4G LTE for $70 a Month
These plans include the use of the phone as a personal hotspot (though only up to 500MB of personal hotspot use on the unlimited plan) and the phone price is added on to this monthly fee. There are also multiple Family plan options with support for up to 5 lines.
T-Mobile iPhone 5 Price
Possible clue to the T-Mobile iPhone 5 price.
The big question will be how much the T-Mobile iPhone 5 will cost. We don’t expect a big change in the off contract iPhone 5 price when the device comes to T-Mobile, even if it is six months old.
Odds are T-Mobile will ask shoppers to cover the full cost of the iPhone 5. That means users should expect to pay $649 for the iPhone 5 on T-Mobile. That said, T-Mobile knows not everyone can pay that much up front for a new phone. T-Mobile’s plans let user pay a downpayment then pay off the phone month-by-month.
Based on the price of the iPhone 5 and the current T-Mobile Uncarrier plan pricing for the Galaxy Note 2, users should expect an up front T-Mobile iPhone 5 price of $199 and then monthly payments of $20 on top of the plan they select. This may fluctuate slightly, as the Samsung Galaxy S3 is $69 and $109 up front, but odds are T-Mobile will need to keep the overall iPhone 5 cost similar to other carriers.
T-Mobile iPhone 5 Release Date
If T-Mobile announces the iPhone 5 at the Uncarrier event we can expect at least one thing we didn’t get at the Samsung Galaxy S4 event — a swift and firm T-Mobile iPhone 5 release date.
Apple is well-known for announcing a new product and then taking orders fairly quickly. When the company announced the Verizon iPhone 4 in early January 2011, shoppers could buy the iPhone within a month.
It would not be surprising if the T-Mobile iPhone 5 is available to pre-order or order before the end of April. Though none of this is confirmed.
Gotta Be Mobile will be watching the T-Mobile Uncarrier event live tomorrow to bring you any news of the new plans and a possible T-Mobile iPhone 5.
Ruben
04/24/2013 at 11:18 am
I’m happy that a T-Mobile iPhone 5 is now available. I’ve always had pleasant experiences with iPhones in the past, so it’s nice that we have another carrier option. I bought the new iPhone 5, and even though we don’t have LTE in Denver yet, the 4G is plenty fast, at least until the new network arrives. Last weekend, I went on a small holiday from work at DISH and got to try out the new LTE network in Vegas. During my trip, I was able to keep up with my shows using the DISH Anywhere app on my phone and as a result of using LTE, streaming quality was fantastic.