If you’re after an iPhone 5S or 5C and aren’t on one of the four largest U.S. carriers you’re in luck: Apple has announced plans to launch the device on several regional U.S. carriers, some of which are offering discounts.
The carriers that will be launching the 5S and 5C on October 1st are:
- Appalachian Wireless
- Bluegrass Cellular
- C Spire
- Cellcom
- GCI
- MTA
- Nex-Tech Wireless
- Ntelos
- Strata
Ntelos is offering the 16GB iPhone 5S for just $149.99 as long as you also take out a contract at the same time. This is a $50 discount over the typical retail price from the major carriers.
Regional carriers tend to be slightly cheaper than the main carriers, especially AT&T and Verizon. However because of their small customer base they tend to stick to very popular phones. It’s quite surprising that Apple has made deals with these carriers since the company typically requires a certain target of iPhone sales. Regional carriers aren’t really popular or large enough to guarantee sales numbers.
