The iPhone rumor mill is working over-time today. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the new iPhone 5 will be released in mid-October, and will be coming to Sprint. This would be amazing news for Sprint, and its 52 million subscribers, if it’s in fact true. Sprint will be launching the iPhone 4 along side the iPhone 5, but at a discounted price. The iPhone 5 will also be available on AT&T and Verizon, but this will be the first time it will be available on Sprint.
This isn’t the first time we have heard rumors about the iPhone coming to Sprint, but the previous rumor was surrounding only the iPhone 4, and not the iPhone 5. Sprint has been losing subscribers pretty regularly as of late and this is exactly what the carrier needs to help it compete with AT&T and Verizon. Of the three carriers Sprint is currently the only one that offers a truly unlimited data plan, which might help lure customers away from the other two networks.
Interestingly there was no mention if Sprint’s iPhone will be available with WiMax, its flavor of 4G, or if it will be a 3G only phone. Unlike Verizon or AT&T, Sprint has been offering 4G service for over a year and has several phones already equipped with the technology so a 4G phone isn’t as much a novelty on Sprint as it is on Verizon or AT&T.
The Sprint rumor comes hot on the heels of a rumor coming out of Reuters which stated that the iPhone 5 would be released at the end of September. It could have been a slight confusion between the dates the phone was being announced verses the date it was being released. Either way both rumors are very close in time, and only time will tell which one, if either, are true.
If you are having a hard time keeping up with all the Apple iPhone rumors make sure to check our rumor round up post.
