Skip to footer

Wal-Mart's iPhone prices undercut Apple's own

Wanna pick up a new phone? Check out Wal-Mart. iPhone prices will be dramatically cut this month. The retail giant is undercutting Apple's official prices on the new iPhone 5C and older models.

|
Rick Wilking/Reuters/File
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. logos at a company distribution center in Bentonville, Ark., last month.

When most people think of getting an iPhone, they think of heading to a shiny white Apple store with blue-shirted employees.

But budget-conscious Apple shoppers may be better served if they head to a store with blue-aproned cashiers.

Wal-Mart announced it will be offering the iPhone 5C starting at $79 ($20 less than the list price) on contract from AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon – the lowest offer on a current-generation iPhone to date. The retailer will also be offering the iPhone 5S starting at $189 (a $10 discount).

Don’t need the latest version? You’re even more in luck. Wal-Mart will be offering the iPhone 5 for $79 with a two-year contract, the iPhone 4S for 79 cents with a two-year contract, and the iPhone 4 for only 10 cents with a two-year contract, plus they’ll throw in a $100 gift card. Not a bad deal.

Why the lower price? Apple has been notoriously strict with its pricing, strongly suggesting the official Apple sticker price to retailers. Generally, stores stick to this scale because Apple offers a financial incentive to stores that sell at the price point (or above) according to Bloomberg Businessweek. This incentive keeps Apple’s pricing (along with their branding and messaging) simple and straightforward.

Wal-Mart, however, will not be getting a discount from Apple as a retailer. It will be taking a pay cut and hoping the cheaper price makes for larger profits.

"Because of our size and scale and what we're able to do, we're able to provide these prices," Sarah McKinney, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, told the LA Times.

In addition to competitive prices, Wal-Mart recently added a smart phone trade-in program that competes with Apple's also recently rolled out trade-in offer. Wal-Mart offers customers $50 to $300 to be used toward a new smart phone purchase if they bring in an old smart phone or iPhone. Apple customers can expect $120 to $250 to be used toward a new model if they bring in their current iPhone.

Customers can pre-order the iPhone 5C at Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club service counters starting Friday, Sept. 13, but no pre-orders are available for the iPhone 5S.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Wal-Mart's iPhone prices undercut Apple's own
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/2013/0913/Wal-Mart-s-iPhone-prices-undercut-Apple-s-own
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe