Walmart will begin selling the 16 GB iPhone 5c for $29 and 16 GB iPhone 5s for $99 with two-year contracts starting tomorrow, according to Engadget.
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The retailer says that the price drop is permanent, unlike similar price drops the company has made for both the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. Walmart has discounted the phones before, dropping the price of the iPhone 5c from an initial $79 to $49 and the iPhone 5s from $199 to $149. The new price cuts discount the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s $20 and $50, respectively, from Walmart's current prices.
Pricing will also be reduced for the 32 GB variants of both phones, but it's not yet known how much they could be discounted. Walmart price cuts will take effect tomorrow at 9 am local time.
Update: Walmart has confirmed to MacRumors that the 32 GB variants of the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s will be on sale for $129 and $199 respectively, offering a $20 savings on the iPhone 5c and $50 savings on the iPhone 5s. It's unclear at this time whether the 32 GB price drops are permanent.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Oh the days of this forum where $29 phones would be for "people who can't afford iPhone"...
Funny, just yesterday in the Android Auto thread, some people were saying that while CarPlay will be in luxury cars, Android Auto will be in cheap cars like Toyotas, Hondas and Hyundais because those cars, much like Android, are for peasants.
If a $50 Android phone is for peasants, I can't imagine what that makes a $29 iPhone. ;)
That is just because the diabolic "subsidy" system in the USA. In other countries, with real competence, most people will not be pushed to buy a high end phone (due to the apparent inexpensiveness and the “even if don’t get the phone I still have to pay almost the same to the carrier, so…”). Instead you can see the real price of each item, and pay according to your needs.What do they do if you buy a 'Droid? Sell it for negative money on a contract? If it's just free, $29 or $99 is easily worth the upgrade.
For example, my mother bought a Lumia 520 (about $120 off contract, SIM free… - iPhone 5c, is about $600-), and she only pays the amount of data/voice/text she really uses. She is in a postpaid account, but she can leave anytime freely, and there is not a base or minimum monthly fee. So, as she doesn’t use so much data or voice or text, some months she pays like $2 or $3, and an average of $5 or $6. This is the way it should be everywhere. If you use more, you pay more, BUT if you use little, you pay little, or even nothing if you did not use that month.
And by the way, I am talking about a country member of the European Union for more than 25 years, not a developing nation where people's salary is $200 a month.
That is just because the diabolic "subsidy" system in the USA. In other countries, with real competence, most people will not be pushed to buy a high end phone (due to the apparent inexpensiveness and the “even if don’t get the phone I still have to pay almost the same to the carrier, so…”). Instead you can see the real price of each item, and pay according to your needs.
You actually can buy off-contract in the U.S., but you end up with a bad deal. Our cell phone service in general is also much more expensive than is cell phone service in Europe. The USA has the problem of being spread out. Costs to the cell companies are high, and you're usually stuck with only a few to choose from, so there is no real competition. $30/mo is considered cheap and will buy you only a little data here, and people gladly pay big bucks for cell phone service. There's no unlimited anymore unless you go on the slow Sprint network.If anyone wants a laugh, it's $20 per megabyte to use AT&T data on the sea. Not kidding. If you're ever on a cruise, turn off your cellular data. Once some stupid app wants to contact Facebook...
That $30 gets me 5 GB of LTE, with unlimited EDGE afterwards; unlimited SMS; 100 minutes, with 10 cents a minute after those 100.
And the particular plan that he's referring to is at http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans under "$30 per month--Unlimited web and text with 100 minutes talk," if anybody happens to be interested. And just to clarify, the unlimited EDGE speeds still keep you connected to whatever's the fastest data network available, but raw speeds will be limited. LTE latency is good, so while max speeds will be dramatically slower, basic things can still be done at prior speeds, such as sending an iMessage.