T-Mobile USA Executive Offers Letter to Customers Regarding Lack of iPhone

With Sprint set to join AT&T and Verizon in offering the iPhone in the United States, T-Mobile appears to be the last of the four major carriers that will be without the device. While a few rumors had allowed those looking for an iPhone on T-Mobile to hold out hope, an internal news posting revealed that the carrier's Chief Marketing Office Cole Brodman had confirmed at a company town hall meeting that T-Mobile USA would not be offering the iPhone 5 this year.

t mobile usa logo
Brodman has now followed up with an open letter to T-Mobile customers, thanking them for their loyalty and making clear that the carrier is interested in carrying the iPhone.

We’ve heard from many customers who love their T-Mobile service, but are disappointed that we don’t carry the iPhone. To these customers, first, thank you for your business. Please know that we think the iPhone is a great device and Apple knows that we’d like to add it to our line-up. Today, there are over a million T-Mobile customers using unlocked iPhones on our network. We are interested in offering all of our customers a no-compromise iPhone experience on our network.

Brodman offers no additional details on the state of negotiations between T-Mobile USA and Apple, instead promoting the company's latest Android handsets and positioning them as able to "rival or beat" any other smartphone on the market, "including the iPhone."

AT&T is in the process of trying to acquire T-Mobile USA, although it has run into opposition from the U.S. government and rival carriers. Regardless, AT&T has indicated that T-Mobile USA would be operated independently from AT&T for some time after the completion of the merger, so it is unclear how quickly T-Mobile might be able to gain the iPhone even under that scenario.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
A18 Pro Chip

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options that include silver, blue, pink, and yellow. MacRumors...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
macbook air spacegray purple

Apple Planning to Launch Low-Cost MacBook Powered By iPhone Chip

Monday June 30, 2025 3:20 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In an article published on X, Kuo explained that the device will feature a 13-inch display and the A18 Pro chip, making it the first Mac powered by an iPhone chip. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro last year. To date, all Apple silicon Macs have contained M-series...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
maxresdefault

Five Features Coming to AirPods Pro 3

Friday June 27, 2025 10:52 am PDT by
Apple hasn't updated the AirPods Pro since 2022, and the earbuds are due for a refresh. We're counting on a new model this year, and we've seen several hints of new AirPods tucked away in Apple's code. Rumors suggest that Apple has some exciting new features planned that will make it worthwhile to upgrade to the latest model. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Heal...
replay all time playlist apple music

Apple Music Debuts All-New Personalized Playlist

Monday June 30, 2025 7:16 am PDT by
As part of its 10-year celebrations of Apple Music, Apple today released an all-new personalized playlist that collates your entire listening history. The playlist, called "Replay All Time," expands on Apple Music's existing Replay features. Previously, users could only see their top songs for each individual calendar year that they've been subscribed to Apple Music, but now, Replay All...

Top Rated Comments

dethmaShine Avatar
180 months ago
They are literally begging for the iPhone.

:apple:
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Agent OrangeZ Avatar
180 months ago
Pick the common GMS frequencies and you might get the phone next time.
T-Mobile does have "common GSM frequencies." Their GSM/Edge network is 100% 1900Mhz. But there is only so much spectrum to go around and the big 3 gobbled it all up. That is why T-Mobile was nearly 2 years late launching 3G. They didn't have enough spectrum. So, the government offered up 1700Mhz AWS spectrum and T-Mobile led the charge along with Cricket and Metro PCS in the auction.

T-Mobile isn't using 1700Mhz as it's "choice." It's all that is left. But hell... Apple made a special CDMA iPhone 4 for Verizon... why not make an AWS iPhone for T-Mobile?

Even then... AT&T is gobbling up T-Mobile for their 1700mhz spectrum to deploy LTE on it. So it is "good enough" for AT&T. And I am sure that when the 2012 iPhone launches with LTE, Apple will support 1700Mhz LTE for AT&T along with both sides of the 700Mhz spectrum for Verizon and AT&T both.

And Sprint? Sprint is currently running WiMax at 2500 Mhz spectrum. When they convert to LTE (not "if"... "WHEN"), then we will have LTE 2500Mhz too.

Like Samsung, HTC and Moto learned a long time ago... you have to learn to accept it all.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dmcaudio Avatar
180 months ago
i use my 3GS on t-mobile...

quite frankly, i LOVE not being required to have a data plan. Everywhere has wifi these days, and when I REALLY want to use the net on the go, I tether to my iPad. I personally think it's TOTAL CRAP that carriers require a seperate data package for each of your devices, and am glad that I can use my iPhone how i want, with whom I want.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Agent-P Avatar
180 months ago
I hope the iPhone 5 ends up supporting the T-Mobile frequencies even if T-Mobiel doesn't officially end up carrying the iPhone. By my math, buying an iPhone unlocked outright and coupling it with T-Mobile's cheaper plans saves me a few hundred over AT&T and Verizon (over the course of a 24 month contract).
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chirpie Avatar
180 months ago
It's odd to acknowledge but then not address the issue in any meaningful way. In business you never say "sorry" unless it's blatantly your fault, and you never bring up a shortcoming unless you aim to deflect it properly.

This just seems... weird.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wordoflife Avatar
180 months ago
I think iPhone could save T-Mobile. Hell, I'd switch.



Maybe.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)