Virgin Mobile USA today announced that it will begin selling the iPhone 5 next Friday, June 28, offering the device on its no-contract Beyond Talk service plans. The plans start at $35/month for 300 minutes plus unlimited text and data, although the carrier begins throttling data speeds after a monthly soft cap of 2.5 GB. A $45/month plan offers 1200 minutes, while a $55/month plan adds unlimited calling, and customers can earn a $5/month discount on their bills when they sign up for automatic payments.
As for the iPhone itself, Virgin Mobile is offering a $100 discount off of Apple's standard unsubsidized pricing, selling the 16 GB iPhone 5 for $549.99 with the 32 GB model priced at $649.99 and the 64 GB model at $749.99.
We noted last October that Apple had Virgin Mobile-specific iPhone 5 models ready to go, although it was unclear at the time when they would be released and it remains unknown why it took approximately nine months after the device's launch to appear at the carrier. The iPhone 5 has been available through other prepaid carriers such as Cricket since as long ago as September.
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more.
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date.
Keep reading...
Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features.
Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos
Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
Thursday November 20, 2025 6:28 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's annual four-day Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping event is returning on Friday, November 28 through Monday, December 1 in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, and others.
During the shopping event, customers can get an Apple gift card with...
Friday November 21, 2025 3:53 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple has begun selling the Hikawa Phone Grip and Stand, a new limited-edition iPhone accessory designed with accessibility in mind.
Designed by LA-based Bailey Hikawa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of accessibility at Apple, the grip uses magnets to securely snap onto any iPhone with MagSafe.
Apple says it can be removed with ease, and doubles as a stand with two different viewing...
American multinational news company CNN has abruptly pulled its content from Apple News, Semafor reports.
CNN quietly removed its stories from Apple News over the weekend and there is no longer a feed from the network to subscribe to in the app. This effectively ends its distribution agreement with Apple while the two sides negotiate new terms. Discussions are apparently ongoing and CNN's...
But its on Sprint Network right? So, it's worthless. Sprint has almost no LTE, this doesnt do WiMax, and their 3G network can't even achieve 56K modem speeds.
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If only there could be a quality prepaid carrier using the Verizon network...
Or have I missed something? Sprint and therefore Virgin coverage in my area is crap.
there used to be a decent amount of Pre-paid carriers on Verizon and AT&T. Straight Talk used to be almost exclusively Verizon in the beginning. But AT&T and Verizon saw how many people were using those cheaper services so they kicked them off their networks. Verizon did it a long time ago. AT&T just recently told Straight Talk to quit selling AT&T sims.
So, now all pre-paids are on T-mo or Sprint. Sprint is terrible coverage and terrible data speeds. T-mo has good data speeds as long as you are inside a city's limits. Suburbs, not so much. And their coverage area sucks. You spend most of your time roaming on AT&T network at edge speeds.
Holy ****. Is there NO WiFi in his life or does he just insist on streaming YouTube HD 24/7? The wife & I SHARE 1GB/mo and barely use 75% of that bc WiFi is everywhere.
Kid is a gamer and always seems to be watching walk-through videos on YouTube -- and Google still hasn't figured out how to stream mobile videos at an appropriate quality for the connection and device.
Hmm... If only the people who develop Android could somehow work with the people who run YouTube... Maybe if they were owned by the same company... <scratches chin> /s
But its on Sprint Network right? So, it's worthless. Sprint has almost no LTE, this doesnt do WiMax, and their 3G network can't even achieve 56K modem speeds.
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there used to be a decent amount of Pre-paid carriers on Verizon and AT&T. Straight Talk used to be almost exclusively Verizon in the beginning. But AT&T and Verizon saw how many people were using those cheaper services so they kicked them off their networks. Verizon did it a long time ago. AT&T just recently told Straight Talk to quit selling AT&T sims.
So, now all pre-paids are on T-mo or Sprint. Sprint is terrible coverage and terrible data speeds. T-mo has good data speeds as long as you are inside a city's limits. Suburbs, not so much. And their coverage area sucks. You spend most of your time roaming on AT&T network at edge speeds.
There is hope as AT&T AIOwireless.com pre-paid service is supposed to roll out nationwide with substantial discounts over their post paid service.
So 'Unlimited' actually means 2.5GB. I don't understand how carriers are allowed to use terms like this. What's unlimited about 2.5GB? It's probably plenty for most but thats not the point.
