WTF: Sprint Payed Apple $20 Billion For iPhone 5 Exclusive?

What the FRENCH TOAST?! The rumor mill is churning at full speed as some very shocking news is hitting the internet. Apparently, the Wall Street Journal and BGR has said that Sprint has paid Apple $20 Billion to have the iPhone 5 exclusively until Q2 2012. This is incredible.

None of our Sprint sources ever mentioned anything like this, so the only way to truly know is to see tomorrow. We were completely shocked to hear this rumor and were not expecting the iPhone 5 to be an exclusive.

Now, this could all be a bunch of bull crap, but who knows? For all we know, Sprint may well be “betting the company” on the iPhone. Apple could be interested since they are the only ones with unlimited data and are willing to pay for 30 million iPhones regardless of Sprint selling them or not.

This is what BGR had to say:

I have been going back and forth for weeks with one of my incredibly solid industry contacts on a piece of information that I couldn’t really process at first – information that is so unbelievable, even from a source this solid, that I couldn’t report it. With this new WSJ report on an Apple/Sprint deal, however, it doesn’t look so crazy.

I have been told that Sprint will be getting the iPhone 5 – yes the real iPhone 5, not the iPhone 4S – as an exclusive. And it will be a 4G WiMAX device. AT&T and Verizon would launch the iPhone 4S and get the iPhone 5 some time in the first quarter of next year as an LTE device. Globally, the iPhone 5 might be available as a 4G HSPA+ device.

BGR also goes on to lay down the details of the hardware Apple will announce tomorrow:

The iPhone 4S Apple will introduce tomorrow will feature the following:

  • A low voltage Apple A5 CPU (it won’t be the same as the iPad 2 chip, clock for clock).
  • Updated front and back camera sensors. FaceTime HD in the front, 8-megapixel 1080p HD video recording in the back.
  • Multiband 3G Qualcomm chipset — North American & International GSM/UMTS/HSPA bands for AT&T and Global carriers, North American CDMA & International GSM/UMTS/HSPA bands for Verizon and Sprint.
  • NFC support.
  • Metal or “premium” plastic on the back case.

And here is what my source said about the iPhone 5 that will launch as a Sprint exclusive:

  • Faster CPU.
  • Larger 4-inch screen, similar to LG’s NOVA display but with a higher resolution.
  • 1GB of RAM.
  • Slightly larger design overall, but thinner and with a larger battery.
  • 32GB of storage.
  • iPhone 5 exclusive software and APIs (Assistant).
  • Dedicated Assistant button, possibly integrated with the new home button, “think gestures or a two-stage button like a camera shutter key).
Now, the Sprint iPhone 5 information goes against what we were told, we were told that Sprint would ONLY get the iPhone 4 and not even the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S until Q1 or Q2 2012.
The plot thickens…..
Join us tomorrow @ noon (central) for coverage on Apple’s iOS keynote!

Comments

  1. MrSpring says

    I was trying to buy an iPhone on the Apple website and when you select a carrier the page is broken. Talked with Apple Support and they said this is a “system glitch” and to try later!

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