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Virgin Mobile drops complete iPhone lineup from its online store

Since the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus last fall, we’ve noticed that Sprint subsidiary Virgin Mobile USA has offered limited-to-no stock on its iPhone lineup with “out of stock” messages on each of their iOS device and seemingly no plans to replenish inventory. Specifically, the pre-paid carrier went head first into the holiday season without any iPhone inventory for shoppers.

Virgin later confirmed that it had no specific plans to carry the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus at the time, and now the prepaid carrier has completely scrubbed the entire iPhone lineup from its online store.

Virgin Mobile USA previously presented a dedicated webpage featuring its iPhone lineup of unsubsidized prepaid models. Most recently, Virgin offered iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, and iPhone 4s models with prepaid plans that required using the Sprint subsidiary’s network.

Now it seems Virgin is getting out of the iPhone game for one reason or another as the network’s dedicated iPhone landing page now redirects to the full smartphone inventory page—absent of any Apple devices.

Search suggestions still recommend ‘iPhone’ and various iPhone models including the iPhone 6 that the carrier never offered and the iPhone 5c which is no longer available online.

Simply searching for ‘iPhone’ reveals landing pages for previous iPhone-dedicated sites on Virgin’s online store including a page for comparing various models of Virgin’s prepaid iPhone models, but the inventory appears to have been reduced to primarily prepaid Android and Windows Phone handsets for now.

Interestingly, though, we recently learned that Sprint MVNO Ting plans to carry the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus as the national carrier removes the limitation that MVNO carriers wait for new devices.

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Comments

  1. Taste_of_Apple - 9 years ago

    Their loss. People want the iPhone. T-Mobile suffered for years without it. Other phones will sell, but an overwhelming amount of folks prefer iPhone and won’t consider a carrier that doesn’t sell it. Of course, the cost of buying whatever amount of iPhones Apple demands might have been too much for Virgin Mobile given its smaller size.

  2. 1sugomac - 9 years ago

    Glad I switched from Virgin to T-Mobile.

  3. AeronPeryton - 9 years ago

    Is this the first carrier ever to drop the iPhone?

    • AeronPeryton - 9 years ago

      …Had a 4S on Virgin Mobile before moving to Japan. Shittiest cellular data connection on the planet.

  4. chasinvictoria - 9 years ago

    Much ado about nothing. Ten bucks says they have the iPhone pages back within a week, now with the iPhone 6 as well.

  5. Brandon Counts - 9 years ago

    Boost Mobile has the iPhone 6, also a Sprint MVNO.

  6. Junior (@Juniortsf) - 9 years ago

    I spoke to Virgin Mobile’s Customer support about them dropping the iphone and they simply told me that was not true as they will have iphones later but will now include the iphone 6

  7. Tyler TJ Harden - 9 years ago

    I think it may have been competition within the Sprint brand umbrella, as sister company Boost, who had previously not carried the Iphone, is now offering the 5C, 5S, 6, and 6+. I guess there wasn’t room for three phone companies to be selling the same phone while apart of the same corporation.

  8. patstar5 - 9 years ago

    Because consumers don’t want to pay $650-$950 for a phone, if carriers didn’t do contracts or financing plans no one would buy the iphone.

    • joeaverager - 9 years ago

      Yep you are probably right. When we bought my wife an iPhone it was cheaper than a Verizon contract with a “free” phone at the seven month mark despite the high initial purchase price.

      I remain AMAZED at what people will pay for a cellphone and service per year. And complain they don’t have any money week to week. Cellphones, full cable plan, and a car payment or two – I wonder if some people will ever be able to retire.

      We are on the verge of cancelling our Virgin contract though b/c she hasn’t had service in two weeks and the Virgin operator confirms there is an outage in this area. Two weeks though???

  9. foodie202 - 9 years ago

    When it comes out, I’d REALLY like to read the behind-the-scenes story on why this really happened, and how Virgin Mobile went out of business.

  10. aaronblackblog - 9 years ago

    Virgin’s had a long history of activation issues with the iPhone. I found out the hard way. Bought an iPhone from them a while back and the one they mailed me was defective. They said no problem just take it to the Apple store and get a new one in warranty. Did that. But Virgin can’t activate a phone they didn’t sell. So my new warranty replacement phone couldn’t be hooked up to the network (even though it was a Sprint-compatible device). This is a pretty widespread problem I found out as I Googled it. If the phone’s IMEA isn’t on the list of phones Virgin’s sold, they’re customer service systems just don’t know how to incorporate it. Took me a week, 3 trips to the Apple store, and I don’t know how many hours on the phone with Virgin to get it sorted.

  11. mknmike - 9 years ago

    Anyone know if (ever needed) I will be able to:

    – activate the two iphone 4 (that my kids bought themselves over a year ago for $140 each instead of ipod touches) that we have as “backup” phones / insurance policies?

    – continue using my wife’s 4s on virgin mobile?

    – be eligible for the $35/month plan instead of the ~$50/month we currently pay?

    My questions are more around activation and support of existing virgin mobile phones than purchasing new ones.

  12. Joe Smith (@joesmith127) - 9 years ago

    I bought the iPhone 5s from Virgin Mobile in December of 2013. I was wondering if anyone knows for a fact if this phone can be used on a different carrier in the U.S.? The technical specs indicate that it has both GSM and CDMA capabilities. Since VM didn’t sell the phone at a discount they shouldn’t be allowed to lock the phone exclusively to their service.

  13. Nebojsa Todorovic - 9 years ago

    I chatted up an apple genius on their website and she said you can buy the i6 at their store, unlocked, and it will work with Virgin. Anybody try this?

  14. Ray Diaz - 9 years ago

    Don’t take a Non-Branded Virgin Mobile iPhone to Virgin Mobile. It won’t work. Virgin Mobile phone, all of them, have proprietary software, i.e., a customized iOS system specifically for VM. An unlocked iPhone from anywhere, even purchased from Apple will NOT work with Virgin Mobile. You’d be wasting your money. Looks like the only place left for a VM 5s is eBay – those phones can be added to your VM account – that is verified. Good luck.

    • Predrag - 9 years ago

      That is actually not correct. Virgin mobile iPhone is exactly the same as any other iPhone. With iPhone 5, Apple consolidated CDMA and GSM into the same device.

      In America, there are essentially two mobile technologies in wide use: CDMA (Verizon and Sprint, with their VMNO, such as Virgin, Boost, etc), and GSM (AT&T, T-Mobile, and their VMNOs, such as MetroPCS and similar). CDMA phones don’t use SIM cards; instead, they have to be associated with operator’s network and activated on it. GSM phones don’t need that; as long as you have an active SIM, you stick it in and it works.

      Most iPhones are sold locked to a specific carrier, and you can only use them on that carrier. If you buy an unlocked iPhone, you can stick any AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card (as long as the card has been previously activated) and it will work. However, none of the American CDMA operators would allow you to activate an unlocked phone on their own networks; they require that the phone be originally locked to their network, regardless of how it was purchased.

      In essence, what Ray Diaz is saying is correct in that you cannot activate an unlocked phone on Virgin mobile, but what’s not correct is that the an iPhone for Virgin is a special phone with customised software. There is no customization of ANY software of ANY iPhone. They are all exactly the same, everywhere in the world. The only restriction is carrier’s “subsidy lock”. And this is where Virgin (and Verizon, and Sprint) make problems where there shouldn’t be any.

      Bottom line, in America, CDMA operators will NOT allow unlocked phones on their network, unless they were originally locked for them and at some point before activated on their network. All other SIM-based mobile operators have no restrictions regarding using unlocked phones.

  15. Simon Severe - 9 years ago

    Can’t you just buy an iphone that works for the sprint network and just switch it over to your Virgin account? I’ve done that with other phones. What’s the big deal?

  16. Thomas Mayford - 9 years ago

    I believe in order for Virgin Mobile to accommodate their customers with the latest new phones such as the I-Phone 6 & or the Samsung Galaxy S-6 Edge etc. they would have to raise the monthly rates on their customers for usage on the latest new phones I don’t believe Virgin Mobile wants to do that to their customers this is just my opinion… Because there are customers who are satisfied with the $55.00 a month they are paying…

  17. Peggy Haynes Anderson - 9 years ago

    I got an email from Virgin that I could get an iPhone6 or 6plus with a $50 plan by calling a number by June 30. I did and what it is is that you will switch over to Sprint with their $50 data plan and iPhone for life. The lease on the new 6 is $21.34 – 6plus is $5 more – for 24 months. After 24 months you can trade for a new phone or buy the one you have for $200. At first it sounded like a good deal to me but I own my iPhone 5s so I am paying $48 through Virgin for my data plan. I think the handwriting is on the wall for Virgin — they only offer 12 phones on their site and that is not good. They will not be offering the iPhone again. It is making me feel like I should take this deal while the getting is good even though I will be paying $70 a month as opposed to $48 – yeah not huge but still

    • Jerome Richards - 9 years ago

      I got 2 iPhone 6 16gb last month from Virgin $559 – $100 code $449 each plus $50 referal credit for porting in , put them on $35 a month deal -$5 for using auto pay $30. Each line a month, unlimited talk/text and 2.5 throttled. I think I got a great deal but yeah it’s a pain to catch the specials , they sold out of phones within minutes . I have to say I’m very happy with Sprint service it works a lot better than my Verizon work phone inside buildings for my old T-Mobile .

      • Cathy Formusahh - 9 years ago

        Jerome, Jealous! WOW..I have been popping on and off their site hoping to catch it in stock. How did you find out? Is there some savvy alert I don’t know about? Pppppplease tell me if there is. Gawd, I’ve been with Virgin since the beginning, no complaints and now they gave me unlimited everything at no extra charge “for being loyal”..I have been pushing my tolerance level with my hated HTC phone and really want an IPhone. Thanks for your inspiring post :)

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Avatar for Zac Hall Zac Hall

Zac covers Apple news, hosts the 9to5Mac Happy Hour podcast, and created SpaceExplored.com.