Apple lowered the price of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini for T-Mobile/Sprint customers on Friday. These handsets are no longer cheaper for customers of rival telecoms.
The change happened just in time for launch day for part of the iPhone 12 series.
No more unfair iPhone 12 price discrepancies
Apple unveiled its latest iOS handsets on Tuesday, and announced that the base model 6.1-inch iPhone 12 costs $799 and iPhone 12 mini is $699 in the US. But those prices were only for AT&T and Verizon subscribers. Anyone activating either of these devices on T-Mobile and Sprint (which are really the same company now) were asked $30 more.
But that changed on Friday, the day one of these handsets went up for preorder. Their Apple Store order page was updated to lower the cost of the T-Mobile/Sprint versions. So, no matter which wireless carrier they are to be activated on, the base model 6.1-inch iPhone 12 price is $799 and iPhone 12 mini is $699.
Please note that this is not true on the T-Mobile website. The price there for the iPhone 12 is still $829.99. And it appears all of the big US telecoms might be kicking in some kind of subsidy. The unlocked version of either iOS device also still costs $30 extra.
Just so there’s no confusion, this iPhone 12 price discrepancy never affected the Pro series. The cost of iPhone 12 Pro has always been $999 for all carriers, and iPhone 12 Pro Max is $1099. There’s no extra charge on the unlocked version.
This change for T-Mobile/Sprint doesn’t do anything about an overall 15% rise in the cost of the 6.1-inch iPhone 12. It’s replacing the 6.1-inch iPhone 11, which debuted at $699 — $100 less. Still, both the iPhone 12 Pro series models cost the same as the equivalent iPhone 11 Pro series devices.
