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Sprint Commits to Buying $20 Billion Worth of iPhones, To Get Redesigned iPhone 5 Exclusively?

Why all the uproar over Sprint getting a potential exclusive? AT&T had an exclusive for years...

It's also not unusual for phone manufacturers to have different models on different carriers. Apple would simply be joining the club.
 
Looks like I'll be moving to Sprint for the iPhone 5...

Presuming the rumor is true. Would be interesting. Perhaps the CDMA/WiMax chipsets are good enough to fit in a slim phone without destroying battery life, unlike current LTE chipsets (suitable ones may be 4-5 months away still).
 
There's no way Apple will make their flagship device exclusive to one of the weakest mobile carriers on the planet. Sprint will carry the same iPhone as everyone else. Why would Apple hold a media streaming party at their Covent Garden store in the UK for an announcement that only pertains to a US only device. It simply makes no sense.
 
klrobinson999 said:
Why all the uproar over Sprint getting a potential exclusive? AT&T had an exclusive for years...

It's also not unusual for phone manufacturers to have different models on different carriers. Apple would simply be joining the club.
Click to expand...

them NOt being in that club is their biggest selling point...

hell the 3GS support in iOS 5 alone is plenty of fragmentation...

different screen res, different cpu capabitities. that's a mess, the very LAST thing they need to do is make a bunch of iPhone 5 SKUs...
 
If the rumor is true...

Then lucky us 3GS holders whom have had the contract for more than 2 years~!!! Plus, Sprint has better rates... so wouldn't mind the change ! ^^
 
ChrisTX said:
Why would Apple hold a media streaming party at their Covent Garden store in the UK for an announcement that only pertains to a US only device. It simply makes no sense.
Click to expand...

Because ... it won't be the only announcement at the event.
 
MrJPH said:
I have wanted the iPhone since day one, but no way in hell I was going to go to AT&T. I have had Sprint for a decade now, and I have never had a problem with their service, and therefore have never wanted to leave them... and again, especially for AT&T. So, I have just VERY patiently waited for Apple to open up its phone to others than AT&T.

Last year was disappointing with only Verizon getting it. But, knew with the fact that Verizon was getting it, and that they use the same CDMA technology as Sprint, that it was only a matter of time. So, VERY VERY patiently waited this past year for the news to come that Sprint would finally be allowed the iPhone also.

With the speculation and almost certainty that Sprint will finally get the iPhone, I pretty much was wetting myself as I was so giddy!

Reality set in though, that it would probably be like it was for Verizon last year, where they didn't get the new iPhone, as AT&T did, but only get the current model and not the newest... the same fate would await Sprint.

If it's true and Sprint did slide all their chips into the middle of the table in order to get the iPhone, I am again beginning to tinkle myself! I doubt highly that Sprint would get exclusively the iPhone 5, because that is just illogical, I don't care how many chips they have stacked in the middle of the table.

So, that is what I am thinking and hoping that comes tomorrow: I will hear that in fact Sprint will be finally a carrier of the iPhone, and also be allowed to sell the latest and most current incarnation of the iPhone that will be introduced tomorrow also, right along with AT&T and Verizon... Sprint being able to, because of this story of the $30bil profferered to Apple.

Funny thing is, after all of this time of loyally sticking with Sprint, if they don't get the iPhone tomorrow, and honestly, if they do, but it isn't the latest version also being introduced tomorrow, I am most likely going to dump them for AT&T or Verizon just so I can get it... because I REALLY do not want to wait months for it to trickle down to Sprint... my phone contract with Sprint expired a year and half ago (I think), and have kept using this same old Samsung Rant phone, which has been showing signs of going kaput for some time now, hoping that it would hang on long enough until the iPhone came to Sprint...

Blowing on Sprint's dice - come on Sprint! I hope your speculative gamble pans out... baby needs a new phone! :)
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Same story here. We've been with Sprint for 11 years. Dealt with some pretty spotty service in the early years but stuck with them and overall have had some pretty cool phones. And like you, I would not on the coldest day in hell jump to AT&T. No way no how. Sprint service has become rock solid over the last 5 years or so. Then when Verizon got the iPhone I was very tempted. We had just switched from Cablevision to Verizon FiOS and it would have been very easy to jump to them for our mobile service too. FiOS is awesome and I was really tempted.

But also like you I knew that it was now only a matter of time before the iPhone showed up on Sprint. And now that day is almost here. As soon as the pre-orders go live I'm ordering the bestest shiniest model there is :-}
 
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No, Apple does make their own chips ... A4, A5 ...

ChrisTX said:
Fair enough, but let's be fair here, people don't care about iCloud, iOS, etc...as much as they do the next iPhone.
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And there will be a new iPhone ... the 4S.
 
powers74 said:
I bet you don't see them making all their own chips either.
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Manufacturing your own chipsets and owning/operating a carrier are very different. Before we even get into the logistics of any of it, let's imagine this what if possibility:

Sprint "folds", as so many of you are hoping happens, and Apple takes it over (for whatever reason), then what? Apple is the carrier and 50+ million subscribers do what then?

Apple will not be in the business of selling or supporting any devices but their own, that leave x million people with other handsets (read non-apple) dead in the water.

What about all the Sprint stores? Do all of these people now have no job? Or do they have a new job as a new Apple store employee?

This all sounds like a headache waiting to happen if you look at the larger picture.


PS: Let's see how long before this one gets deleted. ;)
 
r.j.s said:
No, Apple does make their own chips ... A4, A5 ...



And there will be a new iPhone ... the 4S.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I just can't imagine Sprint would get the exclusive as the only carrier on the planet to get the redesign, while everyone get's the spec bump. I'd imagine Apple makes more than the $20BILL USD off of the rest of the world to lose out to a deal like this. Tomorrow can't come soon enough.
 
I'm in for iPhone on Sprint. Be it 4S or 5 doesnot make much of difference as long as it is on Sprint. They have got best value for your money in terms of plans.
 
ThunderSkunk said:
I keep seeing people referring to the naming of the generations as:

3G - 3Gs - 4G - [4Gs]

I hate to be pedantic, but it actually goes:

IPhone (2G) - 3G - 3Gs - 4G... Which would make the next sequence plainly named 5, as there was no "s" version of the preceding model to the 3G. Then there'd be a 5s.

...not that there is an naming sequence Apple is beholden to follow... and not that I expect anything more than a minor speed bump tomorrow... Jus sayin.
Click to expand...

Umm, there is no iPhone 4G. It's the iPhone 4, and the naming system is consistent. When it's not a major change, but mostly a speed increase, they used the S moniker. Obviously there haven't been enough revisions to really claim a solid pattern, but it fits with the last time they did something similar. Plus, of course, there's Apple's own reference in the iOS 5 betas.

jW
 
ChrisTX said:
Agreed, I just can't imagine Sprint would get the exclusive as the only carrier on the planet to get the redesign, while everyone get's the spec bump. I'd imagine Apple makes more than the $20BILL USD off of the rest of the world to lose out to a deal like this. Tomorrow can't come soon enough.
Click to expand...

That's the thing though ... Sprint will not be getting an exclusive on the iPhone 5.

Sprint will get the iPhone 5 with WiMax now, because the technology is ready - now.

Later, AT&T and Verizon will get the iPhone 5 with LTE when the technology is ready. LTE is not deployed enough and the chipsets are not ready yet. In a few months, maybe, but not now.
 
r.j.s said:
No, Apple does make their own chips ... A4, A5 ...



And there will be a new iPhone ... the 4S.
Click to expand...

Designing and manufacturing aren't the same. Samsung manufactures the chips, Apple (and that company they bought can't recall the name) designs them.


----------
Mal said:
Umm, there is no iPhone 4G. It's the iPhone 4, and the naming system is consistent. When it's not a major change, but mostly a speed increase, they used the S moniker. Obviously there haven't been enough revisions to really claim a solid pattern, but it fits with the last time they did something similar. Plus, of course, there's Apple's own reference in the iOS 5 betas.

jW
Click to expand...

I think Apple knows how much digging is done into the code in those betas they release, they probably figured they'd throw a few red herrings in to keep people off their trail.
 
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RicoRich196 said:
Designing and manufacturing aren't the same. Samsung manufactures the chips, Apple (and that company they bought can't recall the name) designs them.


----------



I think Apple knows how much digging is done into the code in those betas they release, they probably figured they'd throw a few red herrings in to keep people off their trail.
Click to expand...


PA Semiconductor.
 
RicoRich196 said:
I think Apple knows how much digging is done into the code in those betas they release, they probably figured they'd throw a few red herrings in to keep people off their trail.
Click to expand...

Why waste the time? Apple has always been secretive, not misleading.
 
r.j.s said:
That's the thing though ... Sprint will not be getting an exclusive on the iPhone 5.

Sprint will get the iPhone 5 with WiMax now, because the technology is ready - now.

Later, AT&T and Verizon will get the iPhone 5 with LTE when the technology is ready. LTE is not deployed enough and the chipsets are not ready yet. In a few months, maybe, but not now.
Click to expand...

Ahh ok makes sense, the initial article stated the rest of the world would be getting the 4g handsets they just never mentioned when. What does this mean for Sprints rumor that they were going to transition to LTE also? I guess not any more? The only other problem, is who would by a 4S now if they had concrete evidence that a legit 5 was coming?
 
ChrisTX said:
Ahh ok makes sense, the initial article stated the rest of the world would be getting the 4g handsets they just never mentioned when. What does this mean for Sprints rumor that they were going to transition to LTE also? I guess not any more?
Click to expand...

Sprint should still transition to LTE, but it will take years and in the meantime, WiMax isn't going to just stop working.
 
r.j.s said:
Why waste the time? Apple has always been secretive, not misleading.
Click to expand...

You are right but perhaps they really want to keep everyone in the dark this time around. Last time the iPhone 4 leaked in all its glory on Gizmodo like a month and a half before release. That in itself is a huge deal and took away a lot of Apple's thunder, even though it doesn't make THAT much of difference in the end because if you look at the numbers they aren't a slouch in the sales dept.

This time marks one of the first times that the media/blogosphere have NO clue at all what Apple is doing. One minute it's a 4S then next it's a 5. You've seen random case leakings and inventory lists that have both, one, or neither. That says a lot about the way they are going about things this time around.

The only thing I see happening before 1PM EST tomorrow is a leak REALLY really early in the morning of perhaps a super blurry pic. Kind of like when we saw the iPad 1 and it was mounted to the table in that large metal frame.
 
As I think about this, why wouldn't Sprint deserve an exclusive if they promised $20 Billion over a period of years?

Further, if Sprint's WiMax is ready, and the competitors are NOT ready with their comparable offerings, then good for them. Maybe it's Apple's way of pressuring Verizon and AT&T to get with the program and roll-out their upgraded networks at a quicker pace?
 
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