Virgin Mobile announced today that it will be joining the group of U.S. carriers that are launching the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on October 1. The Sprint MVNO revealed the news in a pair of tweets sent from the official @VirginMobileUSA Twitter account.
There's no word yet on how much Virgin Mobile plans to charge for the iPhone 5s or 5c, but because it's a prepaid operator that doesn't deal in two-year contracts, it's likely that Virgin's pricing will be a few hundred dollars higher than the comparable subsidized iPhone 5s/5c price. For example, Virgin launched the iPhone 5 last year in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants for $549, $649, and $749, respectively.
As far as plan options go, the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will be compatible with Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk plans. All three plan options include unlimited messaging and data, although it's worth noting that Virgin will throttle a user's speeds after 2.5GB of high-speed data usage. When it comes to voice, the Beyond Talk rate plans offer a $35 per month option with 300 minutes, a $45 per month tier with 1200 minutes or a $55 per month plan with unlimited minutes.
Virgin Mobile has been carrying iPhones ever since it launched the iPhone 4S in June 2012, so it's not a total surprise to see that Apple's latest pieces of kit will be making their way to the prepaid provider as well. Still, it's great to get confirmation that the iPhone 5s and 5c will indeed hit Virgin Mobile, and it's even better news that the devices are arriving on VM's shelves just a week and a half after the big four U.S. carriers.
Via @VirginMobileUSA (1), (2)
