CUPERTINO — This price war is getting really interesting.
Sprint today unveiled a $50 per month unlimited talk, text, and data plan only for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, firing another powerful salvo in the ongoing race to the bottom, which has included 2GB plans from TMobile for $45 and Verizon for $65.
The $50 plan works with Sprint's EasyPay system, where you pay $30 per month for your phone rather than paying $200 up front. That nets out to $1,978 over two years, as compared with $2,256 on Sprint's standard two-year contract.
The carrier is also introducing the "iPhone for life plan," where customers can get an iPhone and unlimited service for a total of $70 per month with zero down, provided they give it back to Sprint after 24 months. That means they'll be paying a total of $480 for the device, with the other $200 or so of the iPhone's value presumably made up for by Sprint refurbishing and reselling the older devices. That will net out to $1,680 over two years.
"[CEO] Marcelo [Claure] made the commitment that we're going to be the best value in wireless, and this is another step in that journey," David Owens, Sprint's director of product said.
Apple was involved in designing the iPhone for Life plan, Owens said. "We have the name 'iPhone for Life Plan," he said. "That's something Apple's got to be involved with. We've had very good collaboration in this structure."
Sprint has unique reasons for getting customers to switch to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. These are the first iPhones capable of using Sprint's Spark spectrum, a high-capacity network that takes the pressure off of Sprint's relatively slim allocation of LTE 1900 airwaves. When we tested Spark vs. nonSpark devices in two cities earlier this year, we saw dramatically higher speeds on Spark phones. The new iPhones will also have LTE 800, which should greatly improve Sprint's inbuilding coverage.
Sprint won't be in the first round of launches for the iPhones' VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling capabilities, but it will be down the road, Owens said.
"Customers that buy the iPhone 6 won't have to worry about getting a new device to get Wi-Fi calling," he said.
So that means an individual could get one iPhone for $70 per month and nothing up front, and a family could get four lines, with four iPhone 6 models, for $180 per month through 2015 and $240 per month starting in 2016, with nothing down. Sprint will also pay other carriers' early termination fees of up to $350, Owens said.
"The biggest barrier for switching, to people, is the ETF. We've solved that. The second piece is, we've got to buy a bunch of phones. We have literally removed every barrier," he said.
Sprint has become much more aggressive since new CEO Marcelo Claure replaced Dan Hesse last month, after Sprint parent Softbank's attempt to buy rival TMobile fell apart. Compared to the genteel Hesse, Claure has been much more of a street fighter on social media, competing with TMobile's pugnacious CEO John Legere to talk up his own brand and knock down his competitors.
"This should be the best iPhone launch Sprint has ever had," Owens said.