iPhone Cheapest Deal Price Wars Continue Walmart vs AT&T vs Best Buy

The buy-in price of the iPhone 5 is being slashed while prepaid carriers are starting to ramp up their own deals.  Earlier this week we examined the latest Walmart iPhone deals.  AT&T until June 30 can beat the Walmart iPhone 5 deal.  If you have an iPhone 4 or 4S to trade-in, Best Buy is your cheapest best buy.  Here are all the deals followed by chart to show the exact price over two-years.

AT&T is offering 50% off the newest smartphones $199.99 and lower with a tw0-year contract.  Therefore the price of the 16GB iPhone 5 goes down to $99.99 to start. The $36.00 activation fee is waived for new customers or lines of service.

Walmart has only knocked the price of the iPhone 5 to $129.99 while the iPhone 4S is down to $39.99.  The best deal from AT&T is if you buy online where no trade-in is required for 5o% off of $199.99. You can still trade-in your smartphone but you will only get a market value, not a full $100. If you go to an AT&T store, you will have trade-in a smartphone that is under three years old to get the 50% off.

The iPhone 4S from AT&T with 50% off will be $49.99 which is $10 more than the Walmart price, however AT&T is waiving the $36 activation fee until June 30 for new customers*. Here is the close call, if you don't want to drive all the way to Walmart, online, may be easier in the long run to buy online if you are getting a new line of service. The Walmart deals are only available in the Walmart stores.

See the real cost of owning an iPhone 5 and the best deals around. Click on chart to see larger.
See the real cost of owning an iPhone 5 and the best deals around. Click on chart to see larger.

If you already have a working iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S,  Best Buy will give you a  gift card worth at least $150 with which you  can  buy the iPhone 5 for $150.  If you contract is up it may or may not be the best choice because there is a new iPhone in the works, that may be worth waiting for (read how to decide whether to wait or not for the next iPhone.) Remember you will have to pay the activation fee at Best Buy for any iPhone you buy with a contract.

So what is the best deal overall?  If you have an iPhone 4/4S to trade Best Buy is the bargain basement for AT&T. The major part of all iPhone 5 cost is your monthly fee you pay on your contract.

On Friday, Virgin Mobile launches a plan that can be as low as $30 a month, until then Straight Talk is the cheapest deal around over two years, even when you pay $649 for the iPhone up front. See the chart. Check back on Friday, to see how the cheap the Virgin Mobile deal is calculated..

* AT&T will waive your $36 activation fee when you activate new service. New service or line activations only. Fee waived or credited. Taxes and other charges may apply.