Best Buy selling iPhone 5c with $50 gift card

It’s been less than two weeks since the iPhone 5c went on sale, but already Best Buy is discounting it by $50.

The electronics retailer announced Thursday that customers who buy the device at one of its stores will receive a $50 gift card that can be applied at the time of the sale -- which would drop the price of the base iPhone 5c by half from $99.99 to $49.99.

The offer runs from Thursday through Monday and appears to be a strategy by Best Buy to get customers to come into its stores and check out the new iPhone. While a more expensive iPhone 5s has been selling out, many stores are well-stocked with the iPhone 5c.

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The iPhone 5c went on sale in mid-September and starts at $99.99 with a two-year contract for a 16-gigabyte model. Customers can spend $199.99 and get a 32 GB model with a two-year contract.

Besides the iPhone 5c, a Best Buy spokesman said the offer also applies to a number of Samsung smartphones. They include the Galaxy S 4, the Galaxy Note II and the Galaxy S III. The devices, including the iPhone 5c, work with AT&T, Sprint and Verizon.

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