Sprint-owned Virgin Mobile announced it will become the “first ever iPhone only mobile carrier in the US”.

As part of the plan, Virgin will offer prepaid mobile services exclusively on Apple iPhones. Customers signing up will get up to a year of unlimited talk, text and data on the company’s nationwide network for $1.

The iPhone must be bought upfront from Virgin or an Apple store, and the promotion is available for a limited time.

Virgin said in a statement customers signing up to the service will then also get discounts on Virgin flights and hotels, in a promotion branded the “Inner Circle”.

The company is hoping to increase market share by targeting customers that already use other Virgin brands.

Once the promotion period ends, the monthly mobile service will cost $50 for unlimited talk, text and data.

Sprint acquired Virgin Mobile in 2009. However, in recent years it struggled with increased competition in the prepaid segment from AT&T’s Cricket Wireless and T-Mobile US’ MetroPCS.

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, said the company had: “always looked to shake things up and challenge the status quo”.

“Mobile is no exception and with Virgin Mobile USA, we’ve now worked with Apple to create a compelling offer for our new inner circle customers.”

Virgin did not say how many of its existing customers currently use Android devices, or indeed when it would stop selling Android phones.