Sprint heavily discounts the iPhone 4S ahead of iPhone 5 launch

We just got words that Sprint was currently selling the iPhone 4S 16GB at a $50 discount, for a total price of $149.99. According to a Sprint retailer who reached out to us, the company has been notifying stores that this new pricing would be in place until September 14th.

The timing seems very appropriate as the iPhone 5 next iPhone has been rumored to be announced at an event on September 12th, and will supposedly be available for sale on September 21st…

Although the rumor has been confirmed by several media outlets, nothing is official until Tim Cook gets on stage to unveil Apple’s latest addition to the iPhone family.

Sprint is America’s third largest carrier. It is also the last US carrier to haven entered into an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone, long after AT&T, and shortly after Verizon. Considered as the last carrier to offer true unlimited data plans, Sprint activated 1.5 million iPhones during the last quarter, far behind AT&T and Verizon.

From what we hear, this move is aimed at clearing up large inventories of iPhone 4S 16GB that Sprint committed to purchase from Apple, when it hoped it would generate sales as impressive as its competitors. Unfortunately for Sprint, this hasn’t really worked as planned so far.