If you’re on the Sprint network in the U.S., and you’re still holding out for an iPhone, you could have some good news heading your way sometime between fall and winter according to Citadel Secuirites analyst Shing Yin.
Shing also points out that a deal to bring the iPhone to Sprint may not hinge on the expiration of exclusivity deals with Verizon and AT&T at this point, because both companies could face legal complictions should they move to block a Sprint deal with Apple. Sprint typically has lower prices on their plans, so they clearly stand to gain, and could possibly even poach quite a few iPhone customers from others carriers. “We believe Sprint could capture more than its fair share of iPhone sales, especially if it gets the new model at the same time as AT&T and Verizon,” said Citadel Secuirities Shing Yin.
The Sprint iPhone 5 (4S) Rumors
Rumors of a Sprint-Apple deal have been around for months now. Back in May we saw an Apple job posting hinting that a Sprint iPhone was en route. At the time Apple accidentally posted a carrier engineering position online. The job was in a building right beside Sprint’s head office in Kansas City. It was then quickly changed to read Santa Clara Valley, California.
Then CNN Tech posted an article hinting that T-Mobile, Sprint, and the other carriers already carrying the iPhone, would be selling the iPhone 4S in September. At the time CNN Tech was also reporting that the next iPhone would be a 4G device, but not LTE. Since that report we’ve seen rumors supporting both an LTE and non-LTE device.
Finally, back in June we heard that Apple was testing a Sprint iPhone 4S on campus, and the device was in the advanced hardware testing phase of development. It was expected that the phone would ship at the same time as a T-Mobile iPhone.
If we can take anything from these rumors, and the current iPhone situation outside of the U.S., it’s that the iPhone will eventually make its way to the remaining major carriers in the U.S. It’s just a matter of when at this point.
What do you think? Will the next iPhone ship on Sprint and T-Mobile at the same time as Verizon and AT&T? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Barron’s
