The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sprint will indeed be offering the long awaited and heavily rumored iPhone 5, packed with a dual-core A5 processor and supposed Retina Display 4″ screen powered by iOS5.
Sprint blamed a Q2 contract decline on “competitive head winds,” most prominently, “the first full quarter both major competitors offered the iPhone.” This would certainly help bolster subscribers.
They are also supposedly going to offer the iPhone 4, or perhaps the iPhone 4S rumored to be a lower-end upgrade to the iPhone 4. Our article earlier this morning outlined the fact that iPhone 4 and 3GS are still outselling Android and WP7 devices, so this is sure to be a hit for Sprint and they will certainly get more traffic in their stores.
Verizon has sold 4.5 million Apple devices this year, whereas AT&T has sold 7.2. Sprint offering the iPhone 4, the iPhone 5, and the Samsung Galaxy S2 along with already released Evo3D would be quite the offering for current subscribers looking to upgrade and new customers hoping to escape the higher prices of Verizon and AT&T.
All rumors seem to point to a September announcement with October release of the iPhone 5 in two, three, or all four US carriers. This may also work against Windows Phone 7 sales as it will coincide with the release of Mango on the Arrive. Only time will tell.
You getting one?
UPDATE: MacTrast is now reporting that they have an anonymous T-Mobile source who claims the iPhone 5 will indeed be coming to to T-Mobile as well. The source went on to say
“We expect the addition of the iPhone, and the iPhone 5′s ability to run on our 3G network to make a significant financial difference for T-Mobile.”
As you know, most current iPhones on AT&T’s network can run on T-Mobile if jailbroken and unlocked, but only get Edge speeds. Earlier this year T-Mobile stated that they had an estimated one million iPhones on their network, and I personally have had very good iPhone customer support from T-Mobile, including them giving me proper APN settings and telling me to download Cydia apps that would help with my data connection.
An iPhone 5 on ALL networks could reclaim iOS taking over mobile market share, currently lead by Android with 52%.
You getting one?