Cricket Wireless has introduced its first holiday offers of the 2021 season and it includes a 5G push. Cricket's homepage now highlights that "5G smartphones starting at $0" are available. The Cricket Dream 5G is the featured 5G phone offer and it is the only one that is free for switchers. The offer is also featured in a new Cricket Wireless TV ad. Cricket has several free 4G LTE phone deals including a continuation offer for the iPhone SE.
Cricket's Holiday 2021 Android 5G Phone Offers
Cricket Wireless only sells a limited number of 5G phones. A few of them have been put on sale to kick off the holiday 2021 shopping season. The table below showcases the currently available offers.
| Phone | Original Price | Upgrade/ New Line Price | Port-In Pricing |
| Cricket Dream 5G | $189.99 | $99.99 | Free6 |
| Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G | $229.99 | $109.99 | $49.996 |
| Motorola Moto One 5G | $229.99 | $109.99 | $49.9962 |
| Samsung Galaxy A32 5G | $279.99 | $129.99 | $69.996 |
| Samsung Galaxy A52 5G | $459.99 | $329.99 | $159.9962 |
| Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G | $699.99 | $429.99 | $359.993 |
3= Port to a Cricket plan priced $30 or higher is required
6= Port to Cricket's $60 unlimited plan required
62 = Port to Cricket's $60 unlimited plan required AND must prepay for first two months of service
If that free Dream 5G sounds appealing to you, you may want to check out YouTuber Lady Red's Tech Reviews Dream 5g unboxing video.
Cricket's Holiday 2021 Free Android 4G LTE Phone Offers
Below is a table full of Cricket Wireless's first set of free phone offers available to switchers for the holiday season.
| Phone | Original Price | Upgrade/ New Line Price | Port-In Pricing |
| Alcatel APPRISE | $69.99 | $19.99 | Free55 |
| Cricket Influence | $109.99 | $39.99 | Free3 |
| Cricket Icon 2 | $89.99 | $19.99 | Free3 |
| Cricket Icon 3 | $89.99 | $59.99 | Free55 |
| Cricket Debut | $79.99 | $49.99 | Free55 |
| Cricket Ovation | $129.99 | $49.99 | Free6 |
| Cricket Ovation 2 | $129.99 | $69.99 | Free6 |
| Cricket Ovation 2 | $129.99 | $69.99 | Free6 |
| Cricket Influence | $109.99 | $39.99 | Free55 |
| Moto G Play | $109.99 | $79.99 | Free6 |
| Moto G Power | $139.99 | $89.99 | Free6 |
| Nokia C2 Tava | $109.99 | $39.99 | Free55 |
| Samsung Galaxy A02s | $109.99 | $79.99 | Free6 |
| Samsung Galaxy A12 | $179.99 | $99.99 | Free6 |
3= Port to a Cricket plan priced $30 or higher is required
55= Port to Cricket $55 or higher unlimited plan required
6= Port to Cricket's $60 unlimited plan required
Cricket's Holiday 2021 iPhone Offers
Unfortunately for iPhone fans, the season is starting off on a slow foot. Cricket is running just a couple of deals, the same ones it's basically offered for awhile.
| Phone | Original Price | Upgrade/ New Line Price | Port-In Pricing |
| iPhone SE | $349.99 | $249.99* | Free |
| iPhone XR | $499.99 | $399.99 | $49.99 |
*Free for new accounts, $249.99 for upgrades
To get the iPhone SE and XR port-in pricing, customers must switch to Cricket, purchase the $60 unlimited plan and prepay for their first three months of wireless service. To take advantage of the iPhone XR offer, customers must port to Cricket's $60 flagship unlimited plan and prepay for two months of service in advance.
Cricket's New Holiday Ad Touts Free Cricket Dream 5G Phone
To support Cricket's free 5G phone offer, a new TV ad has been launched. The ad, entitled "Holidays: Winter Wonderland," features a very happy Cricket customer in the snow who spins around and around in a circle while holding her new phone. She proclaims "it's everything I wished for." The ad continues with one of Cricket's mascots telling the woman's significant other "I told you she'd love her new 5G phone from Cricket." The ad finishes with a picture of the Cricket Dream 5G and shows in bold lettering "free 5g phone when you switch, plus fast, nationwide 5G." Watch the ad below.
At the end of October, Cricket Wireless made 5G network access available with all of its plans. The company is wasting no time advertising the availability of that network.
Two quick questions regarding these Cricket-exclusive phones (the Dream 5G, Icon, Ovation, etc.):
The fine print for their branded phones is the same as any other, in that it says may be locked to Cricket for 6 months. I’m not sure how cross carrier compatible they are and would require looking into supported bands for each phone
Thanks – sort of assumed that this is one of those “learn by living” issues.
Yes the phones are unlocked after 6 months of paying for crickets service.
Yes they are unlocked after 6 months of service payed and kept active