Four More Small U.S. Carriers Launching iPhone on May 18 with $50 Discounts

iphone 4s boxLast month saw six small U.S. carriers begin offering the iPhone for the first time, and it appears that another round of expansion to similar carriers is coming on May 18. Four new iPhone carriers, all operating CDMA networks, have rolled out their announcements so far today:

- Bluegrass Cellular (Kentucky)
- Golden State Cellular (California)
- Nex-Tech Wireless (Kansas)
- Pioneer Cellular (Oklahoma)

As with other regional carriers, the new entrants will be offering the iPhone at $50 below the standard pricing available through Apple and the major carriers. Under the discounted pricing, the iPhone 4S will be priced at $149/$249/$349 and the iPhone 4 will be available for $49.

Given the small nature of the carriers announcing their iPhone launches, publicity is somewhat unorganized and we're asking readers to let us know if they spot word of any others involved in this round of launches.

Related Forum: iPhone

Top Rated Comments

Shanpdx Avatar
156 months ago
Now that Steve Jobs is gone it seems like Apple is willing to send the iPhone to any and every carrier. What a shame, should have stuck with the best.

unlike original release, iPhone is not that unique or percentage of smartphone users.

What is the issue bringing the technology to all?

I would like to see more Unlocked iPhones with much better price point may be $450 to $500???
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sha4000 Avatar
156 months ago
Now that Steve Jobs is gone it seems like Apple is willing to send the iPhone to any and every carrier. What a shame, should have stuck with the best.

More money for Apple. Is there something wrong with that? Plus it's an easy way to close the gap with Android phones right???
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Boisv Avatar
156 months ago
I hope this trend continues.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
croooow Avatar
156 months ago
Now that Steve Jobs is gone it seems like Apple is willing to send the iPhone to any and every carrier. What a shame, should have stuck with the best.
What a shame that Apple is getting their products out to more people? Didn't Steve talk about what a good market there would be in mobile phones (I remember him comparing it to the game console market, this is before the app store and all those iOS games, when the iPhone was mostly a phone) when he introduced the original iPhone?

Elitist attitudes like that are what give Apple users a bad name. Apple should not be trying to limit who buys their products, they should work on making the best products.

----------


- Bluegrass Cellular (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bluegrass-cellular-to-offer-iphone-4s-on-may-18-150592585.html) (Kentucky)
- Golden State Cellular (http://thepinetree.net/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=30233) (California)
- Nex-Tech Wireless (https://www.facebook.com/notes/nex-tech-wireless/nex-tech-wireless-to-offer-iphone-4s-on-may-18/10150785758458015) (Kansas)
So do iPhones on these small carriers say "Bluegrass," "Golden State," etc instead of "Verizon"/"AT&T"/"Sprint" or do they have a more generic carrier signal listing like some of the iPhone promo shots (that will say "3G" with no company listed as carrier)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Konrad9 Avatar
156 months ago
he has handling it better man.

Hope to see more good steps from him ...

What does Tim Cook have to do with this story?

----------

Now that Steve Jobs is gone it seems like Apple is willing to send the iPhone to any and every carrier. What a shame, should have stuck with the best.

Lack of competition hurts only one group, us, the consumer.

Your absurdly closed-minded attitude is disturbing.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
unlimitedx Avatar
156 months ago
I'm suprised US Cellular hasn't added it yet.

They declined the chance due to apple's terms
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...