Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard about small delays in the launch plans of many US carriers for the Galaxy S III. While they haven’t threatened to push back the start of sales too far, they have seemed like further evidence of larger GS3 availability problems. As we find ourselves on the cusp of the handset finally landing, T-Mobile is chiming-in with its own news of revised launch plans, as well as finally revealing its own GS3 pricing.

T-Mobile has been saying since early June that it would begin GS3 sales on June 21. Now, it admits that limited stocks mean that it can’t do a full launch on Thursday. Instead, the phone will only go up for sale this week in certain major markets, with availability coming to the carrier’s other retail locations on June 27. Additionally, only a limited quantity of GS3s will be available for sale online, though T-Mobile hasn’t revealed just how few are reserved for the channel.

Ready for the really bad news? The other carriers have been pricing on-contract sales of the GS3 at around $200 for the 16GB model. On T-Mobile, the same phone will run you more like $280, and that’s after accounting for mail-in rebates. If you go with one of the carrier’s Value Plans, you’ll only make a $230 down payment, instead, but still be on the hook for the full $630 retail cost spread out over your monthly bills. On the other carriers, that full-price cost ranges from $550 to $600 for the same 16GB model.

What the heck is T-Mobile thinking with those prices?

Launch Markets: Los Angeles, CA, Chicago, IL, Phoenix, AZ, Houston, TX, San Diego, CA, New York, NY, Seattle, WA, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Dallas/Ft.Worth, TX, San Francisco, CA, Salt Lake City, UT, Denver, CO, Minneapolis, MN, Tampa/St.Petersburg, FL, Philadelphia, PA, San Antonio, TX, Portland, OR, Austin, TX, Atlanta, GA, Kansas City, MO, Boston, MA, Sacramento, CA, Orlando, FL, Detroit, MI, Washington, DC, Cleveland, OH, Jacksonville, FL, Charlotte, NC, McAllen, TX
Source: TmoNews