T-Mobile USA Planning to Offer iPhone and End Subsidies Within 3-4 Months

iphone 5 black whiteFollowing up on yesterday's report about T-Mobile USA already having 1.9 million iPhones operating on its network as it moves toward a launch of official sales later this year, Reuters reports that the carrier should begin selling the device within the next 3-4 months. T-Mobile is planning a similar timeframe for its move to end device subsidies in favor of installment plans and lower monthly plan costs.

"They're all, I would call them, in three to four months as opposed to six to nine months, [T-Mobile USA CEO John] Legere told Reuters in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

T-Mobile is also remaining aggressive on the acquisition and partnership front, with Legere noting that the carrier is looking to close its pending acquisition of MetroPCS in the second quarter of this year and is exploring deals with satellite TV provider Dish Network and prepaid carrier Cricket's parent company Leap Wireless.

As for T-Mobile's plans to end subsidies, it may not be the only major U.S. carrier to make the shift, as The Wall Street Journal reports that both AT&T and Verizon will be watching how things play out. Both carriers do, however, acknowledge that customers are so conditioned to low upfront device costs that it may prove a significant hurdle to overcome.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro teal 1

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Coming to These 8 U.S. States, But Rollout Remains Slow

Wednesday March 19, 2025 6:55 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly. It has been three and a half years since Apple first announced the...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

iOS 19 to Have Some of the 'Biggest' Design Changes in iPhone's History

Sunday March 16, 2025 10:35 am PDT by
Apple is planning some of the "biggest iOS and macOS redesigns in its history," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman reiterated that iOS 19 will have a visionOS-like design with more transparent interfaces:The new interfaces will adopt the design principles introduced in visionOS, the software for Apple's Vision Pro headset. That includes greater...
iphone 16 pro ghost hand

Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro Already Rumored to Have Five New Features

Tuesday March 18, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro models are still around a year and a half away from launching, there are already some early rumors about the devices. Below, we recap some key iPhone 18 Pro rumors so far. Under-Screen Face ID In April 2023, display industry analyst Ross Young shared a roadmap showing that iPhone 17 Pro models would feature under-display Face ID. In May 2024, however, Young said ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

Apple's First Foldable iPhone Estimated to Cost Nearly Twice as Much as iPhone 16 Pro Max

Monday March 17, 2025 6:42 am PDT by
In an investor research note today with British bank Barclays, analyst Tim Long said Apple's first foldable iPhone could have a starting price in the $2,300 range in the United States, which would make it by far the most expensive iPhone model ever. If the first foldable iPhone starts at $2,299, that means it would cost nearly twice as much as the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which starts at $1,199. ...
Bent iPhone Air Feature

Apple Canned Larger iPhone 17 Air Model Over Fears of Bendgate 2.0

Monday March 17, 2025 4:07 am PDT by
Apple prototyped a larger ultra-slim iPhone 17 Air with a 6.9-inch display, but ultimately decided not to go ahead with the device because of fears that it could be susceptible to bending, according to a new report. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, writing in his latest Power On newsletter: When it first started work on the phone, it prototyped a device with a 6.9-inch screen — matching...
iphone 16 pro models 1

All Four iPhone 17 Models Rumored to Feature Upgraded 24-Megapixel Front Camera and More

Monday March 17, 2025 7:50 pm PDT by
All four iPhone 17 models launching later this year will feature an upgraded 24-megapixel front-facing camera, according to analyst Jeff Pu. In a research note today with investment firm GF Securities, Pu shared a chart in which he reiterated that the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will each be equipped with a 24-megapixel front camera. By comparison, all four ...
iPhone 17 Air Fanned Feature

First iPhone 17 Air Case Has Camera Bar, Camera Control Button Cutouts

Wednesday March 19, 2025 5:29 am PDT by
Serial leaker Sonny Dickson today shared an image of what he claims is a first look at a third-party case for Apple's iPhone 17 Air. "If you didn’t know an Air was coming, you'd swear it was a Google Pixel case," he said. Case manufacturers often obtain design specifications of upcoming iPhone models before their release by collaborating with Apple through official partnerships or...
General iOS Mail Feature

iOS 18.3.2 Broke iCloud Mail Delivery

Monday March 17, 2025 3:31 pm PDT by
The iOS 18.3.2 update that Apple released last week appears to have broken iCloud Mail for some users. There are multiple complaints on Reddit and the MacRumors forums from users who say that iCloud Mail is not able to push new iCloud emails to their iPhones after the iOS 18.3.2 update. Affected users say that despite having the correct settings enabled, new iCloud emails are not showing up...

Top Rated Comments

Tiger8 Avatar
159 months ago
What horshhit! Why should you pay less because you are out of contract. You are receiving the same service and package. Talk about self-importance syndrome.

Because part of your contract is a phone subsidy, around $25 each month. They bundle it inside your plan.

So once you pay off your phone, your bills should go down, but that's common sense, it doesn't work this way with either of the big 3
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SkippyThorson Avatar
159 months ago
1. Up yours ATT, you didn't drop my plan price after my contract was up saying the benefit was I could leave at any time... and that was after I had explained to them why it should be cheaper after the contract was up.

2. T-Mo I'm coming your way. I'm sick of this crap the others pull over on us.

3. As far as being subsidized, T-Mo has explained you can get financing... i think it's 0% paying $20 a month until the phone is paid off, with a down payment of $200 (for an iphone). So basically it's the same thing, but they keep things separate so you know what goes where and when it's paid off, it's paid off.

Edit: I'm on straight talk and looking forward to leaving it. Yeah it's cheap, but i've had my fill of problems, more than I've had when I'm on a "name brand" network.

You and I could sit and have a long, long talk. I feel the exact same way because I'm in the exact same position. My first few bills were upwards of $85... When I had AT&T, they thought I was privileged to be staying with them post-contract.

I talked them down to $65 with two discounts shortly in to my contract, but I only had 200mb of Data, 200 texts, and 450 minutes a month. After 2 and a half years with an iPhone 2G, I signed up with another contract when I got a launch day iPhone 4. (I wouldn't have even done that if my iPhone 2G's Wifi didn't stop working, but it was impossible to keep on that plan.)

After a very lengthy debate about overage text charges through using the AIM app (I still don't know how they got my AIM message-exchange data) I got them to drop a bill, and my contract went down to $62. (OOH!!!)

When that contract was up, I immediately got Straight Talk. It was a huge fiasco to get MMS to work after 3 months without it, I had to switch over to YouMail because there is no native Visual Voicemail support, and I still constantly have to toggle Airplane mode on and off at least once a month because it errors out when connecting to cell data. At least that was $45 for unlimited everything.

The only reason I'm not on T-Mobile yet is no Visual Voicemail support. Not even YouMail works on a relative's T-Mobile iPhone 4. At this point, I don't care at all. For $30 a month, I can get 100 minutes, unlimited text, and unlimited web. If they carry the iPhone, they will either implement Visual Voicemail or provide a solution for those that have the iPhone on a prepaid plan. Until then, for $30, I can call my voicemail like I used to.

This major contract bull with AT&T / Verizon / Sprint is for the birds. My parents got Virgin Mobile long ago and have been happy. When I call them, the quality of their $20-$40 flip phones is no different than if they had a $200 smart phones, and they aren't paying an arm and a leg each month. Heck, they don't even have a bill each month - it's $20 every 3 months.

T-Mobile has me as a customer as of February 1st. No more contracts, no more major carrier games, no more obscene fees. Each year the new iPhone comes out, I get the previous year's iPhone at half the price, and put it on a cheap prepaid plan. No headache switching over to the Lightning connector when I have a collection of 30-Pin docks and cables, and no huge upfront cost or marked up high-demand in the Marketplace here. A year old phone on a prepaid plan, upgraded to the next phone each year. Suck it, carriers.

Holy crap, my posts are always long-winded. :)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
159 months ago
What horshhit! Why should you pay less because you are out of contract. You are receiving the same service and package. Talk about self-importance syndrome.

An iPhone 5 costs $649 from Apple.

You enter a 24 month contract and you are told that you get a free iPhone 5.
In reality, the carrier pays $649 to Apple, and the bill for the service is $27 higher than it should be, so that other 24 months you pay $649 to the carrier.

Actually, your bill is $40 higher than it should be, and 24 x $40 - $649 is profit for the carrier.

After 24 months, you have paid for your iPhone. There is no reason why you should continue paying the high rate. Consider this: You could (A) continue using your iPhone 5 for another two years. Or (B) cancel the contract, put your iPhone 5 into a drawer, get an iPhone 6 or 7 for "free" and start a new two year contract. Since (B) is $649 more expensive for the carrier, why should they charge the same amount for (A)?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KPOM Avatar
159 months ago
This will be VERY interesting. T-Mobile tried something similar a few years ago called Even More Plus, where they knocked $20 off the monthly bill in exchange for no subsidy on the phone. It wasn't popular then, but that was partly because they offered subsidies greater than $240 on their other plans.

Apple is very much a company who has benefited from carrier subsidies. iPhone adoption rates in the US are significantly higher than in Europe, where subsidies are less common and Android phones sell for less. I wonder if this is why we are suddenly hearing all the chatter about a cheaper iPhone (first Digitimes, then the more reputable WSJ and today Bloomberg). Perhaps part of it could be for emerging markets like China, but maybe Apple is also preparing for the days when it won't be able to rely on AT&T and Verizon paying them an extra $100 for their phones.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rmwebs Avatar
159 months ago
Ever notice how iPhones cost $199, but if you buy it off contract it will costs like $649? The carrier pays the difference to Apple and make it up over the life of the contract. The amount that the carrier pays is a subsidy


Technically you still end up paying $649 - its included in the contract over several months. Apple and the mobile network just get a bit more cash out of you.

Think of it as a loan.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mad Mac Maniac Avatar
159 months ago
Can someone explain what "subsidies" are and how they can exist?

Ever notice how iPhones cost $199, but if you buy it off contract it will cost like $649? The carrier pays the difference to Apple and they make it up over the life of the contract. The amount that the carrier pays is a subsidy

So T-Mo is planning on you paying full price on your devices, but then can charge significantly less monthy. It's just a different way of getting your money
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)