Why T-Mobile is offering an Apple iPhone 6s for $5

T-Mobile Customers can get a 16 GB iPhone 6s for $5 per month, under the company's trade-in plan, amid fierce competition among the top US carriers ahead of Apple's highly anticipated phone launch.

People look over the new Apple iPhone 6s models during a product display following an Apple event Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015, in San Francisco.

Eric Risberg/AP

September 23, 2015

T-Mobile US Inc offered the cheapest option to own the latest iPhone at $5 under the company's trade-in plan, amid fierce competition among the top U.S. carriers ahead of Apple Inc's highly anticipated phone launch.

Customers can get a 16 GB iPhone 6s for $5 per month without upfront payment, under an 18-month lease, in exchange of an iPhone 6, 6 Plus or Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 versions under T-Mobile's latest plan.

They can also get a 16 GB iPhone 6s Plus for $9 per month under the plan. (http://t-mo.co/1MpMTzR)

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Sprint Corp currently offers an iPhone 6s for $15 per month, under a 22-month lease, with its trade-in plan.

U.S. carriers are also pressured by Apple's own financing scheme for an unlocked iPhone that gives customers the freedom to switch between carriers.

Demand for new iPhones were on pace to beat the 10 million units the previous versions logged in their first weekend last year, Apple said earlier this month.

T-Mobile Chief Executive John Legere tweeted on Tuesday that iPhone 6s preorders were 30 percent higher than a year earlier.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)