Here’s the headline, “Apple Working On a Less Expensive iPhone.” at least according to the Wall Street Journal this afternoon, and then Bloomberg shortly after that. Citing sources “familiar” with the idea, we should expect it by the end of 2013. Bloomberg went even further, claiming that the phone would be between $99 and $149. So far I would put this in the “rumor” column of your life until we get something a little more definitive, also keep in mind that rumors about an affordable iPhone have been around since early 2011. Giving a statement like that is much like someone saying that Apple is making a new iPhone. To my response, well yeah, at least in some form or another. There. I have just provided you with the relevant information here and I didn’t need 1000 words to do it. Promotions all around.
In other news, apparently Walmart is feeling the need to provide you with iPhones that aren’t under a data contract through a pre-paid provider called Straight Talk. And the actual plans that they are advertising are much lower than any typical iPhone plan among the major carriers:
Pricing for the Straight Talk no-contract plans include:
$45 – No Contract Monthly Plan with Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text, and Data.
$60 – No Contract Monthly Plan with Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text, and Data PLUS Unlimited International Calling to more than 1,000 destinations in Mexico, Canada, India, and in other countries.
The only financial catch is that the actual phone is much more expensive.
- iPhone 5 will be available in black and white for $649 for the 16GB model only
- iPhone 4 will be available in black and white for $449 for the 8GB model only
In the long run this will save people money, and I have no love my carrier (Sprint), so any opportunity to dump them would be quite welcome. My hangup here is I had never heard of Straight Talk before, though they’ve been around since last year, and I’m not sure of what to think about their coverage. I did find a review of Straight Talk on the iPhone via 9to5mac and it seems competent enough. Feeling brave enough to try it? Let me know.
I live in Columbus, OH and my fiancé has had Straight Talk for nearly a year. Straight Talk also has/had SIM cards that pop directly in to an AT&T iPhone. Well, we decided to purchase a used AT&T iPhone 4 (locked and not jailbroken), popped in the SIM, and it worked! She has been paying $45 a month and using it ever since. According to her, it’s worked like a charm. Oh yeah, and she has unlimited data. By that I mean not capped or throttled, at least that we know of.
Thanks Glenn! Maybe one day I’ll have the balls to give it try.