Sprint has just announced their Q4 2011 financial results, revealing that they sold 1.8 million iPhones. 40% of those iPhones sold were to new Sprint customers, a high percentage and one that was needed for Sprint. After continued losses, Sprint needed to add more customers to its network and in Q4 it achieved 1.6 million new users – meaning 45% of those new subscribers signed up with an iPhone.

“Our strong fourth quarter performance illustrates the power of matching iconic devices like the iPhone with our simple, unlimited plans and industry-leading customer experience,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO

It follows the financial results from Verizon and AT&T a few weeks ago where it was revealed that Verizon sold 2.2 million iPhones and AT&T sold 7.6 million iPhones.

View the full Sprint press release after the break.

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AT&T said late yesterday that it has seen 200,000 pre-orders of Apple’s iPhone 4S, breaking its record for first-day pre-orders. Speaking to AllThingsD, an AT&T representative said “AT&T has seen extraordinary demand for iPhone 4S, with more than 200,000 preorders in the first 12 hours alone, the most successful iPhone launch we’ve ever had”.

Sprint, who is selling the iPhone for the first time this week, was also pleased with results although they didn’t reveal numbers. “We are very, very pleased with the initial first day of iPhone 4S preorders,” Sprint Vice President of Product Development Fared Adib said in a statement. “Today’s sales and the overall customer experience greatly exceeded our expectations.”

Meanwhile if you are now looking to pre-order the iPhone 4S from the online Apple Store, you’ll have to put up with delayed shipping times. Apple now claims that new orders (of any model) will take 1-2 weeks for shipping (from the October 14th date).

[Via AllThingsD]

It was previously reported the next-generation iPhone would be available on U.S. carrier Sprint, and today The Wall Street Journal adds some details to its initial report, claiming that Sprint is “betting the company” on a $20 billion iPhone deal that will see Sprint purchasing 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years.

New details, not previously reported, give a rare look at Apple’s closely guarded dealings with carriers, and reveal just how high the stakes are for Sprint.

Mr. Hesse told the board the carrier would have to agree to purchase at least 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years—a commitment of $20 billion at current rates—whether or not it could find people to buy them, according to people familiar with the matter. In order to keep the price people pay for the phone low and competitive with rivals, Sprint would be subsidizing the cost of each phone to the tune of about $500, which would take a long time to recoup even at the high monthly fees iPhone users pay.

Sprint’s board called the iPhone “project Sony” internally, and a person familiar with the matter has been quoted by the WSJ saying “We have to have it”. The deal’s hit on Sprint’s operating income is “staggering”, according to another source. In a lawsuit filed against the AT&T / T-Mobile merger in September, Sprint said the company “has had to compete without access to the iPhone for nearly five years”.

Apple is expected to introduce a new iPhone tomorrow in Cupertino at 10 AM Pacific time. Check out our roundup for a breakdown of rumors and predictions.

A new article from Bloomberg corroborates a report from The Wall Street Journal, claiming that”according to people familiar with the matter” Sprint will start selling the next-generation iPhone in mid-October, with an unlimited data plan.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) will offer Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone next month with unlimited data service plans to distinguish itself from rivals AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Wireless, according to people familiar with the matter.

Sprint, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, plans to begin selling the device in mid-October under a deal with Apple for the next model, the iPhone 5, said the people, who wouldn’t be identified because the plans aren’t public. Becoming the country’s only operator to offer the device with unlimited data service for a flat fee may help Sprint draw customers from AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which already carry the phone, they said.

Both Verizon and AT&T switched their previous unlimited data plans to tiered ones, and Sprint is said to be considering the iPhone as a way to win consumers over the nation’s two largest carriers — Sprint has lost money for 15 consecutive quarters, with several analysts claiming that the lack of Apple’s iPhone in its line-up has certainly contributed to the carrier’s loss. A lawsuit filed by Spring against the AT&T / T-Mobile merger earlier this week stated the company had to compete without the iPhone for nearly five years.

For a timeline of iPhone 5 news and speculation, check out our rumor roundup and retrospective.

Earlier today, U.S. carrier Sprint filed a lawsuit again the AT&T / T-Mobile merger, citing “competitive advantages” and an entrenched duopoly that would make it difficult for Sprint to compete against giants such as Verizon and AT&T. In the document filing — which claims the acquisition would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act — This is my next has dug out an interesting tidbit in which Sprint seems to be hinting at Apple’s iPhone.

According to Sprint, “Apple gave Verizon a time-to-market advantage for the iPhone” in early 2011, whereas “Sprint has had to compete without access to the iPhone for nearly five years” (emphasis added). The curious wording is no confirmation of Sprint getting the iPhone after it first launched in 2007, although from a speculative standpoint it might suggest the company will soon be able to get access to the iPhone after nearly five years. Verizon actually got the iPhone four years after AT&T (the original exclusive partner in the United States), and as Nilay Patel notes, a time-to-market advantage “would only be an actual advantage if other carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile were set to get the device later on”.

Obviously, this piece of information is only worth reporting as a follow-up to The Wall Street Journal’s recent report of Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint getting the next-generation iPhone in mid-October. For a timeline of iPhone 5 news and speculation, check out our rumor roundup and retrospective.

According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, initially quoted by Business Insider, U.S. carrier Sprint will sell the iPhone 5 once the device becomes available in October.

Sprint Nextel Corp. will begin selling the iPhone 5 in mid-October, people familiar with the matter said, closing a huge hole in the No. 3 U.S. carrier’s lineup and giving Apple Inc. another channel for selling its popular phone.

The timing, however, indicates Apple’s new iPhone will hit the market later than expected and too late to contribute to sales in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ends in September. Most observers had expected the device to arrive next month.

Much speculation has surrounded the release of the next-generation iPhone, which was expected to debut during the summer as every previous iPhone, though the launch didn’t materialize and Apple decided to focus the WWDC (the iPhone’s typical announcement stage) on software instead. Since then, rumors have failed to pinpoint an exact release date for the iPhone, with different sources claiming a September or October launch. It is not clear whether Apple would use its typical media event in September only to launch the device in October — what seems fairly certain is that the iPhone 5 will come equipped with a new version of iOS, which is currently being tested by registered developers. Last, according to other rumors, Apple may be gearing up to release two different versions of the iPhone this fall, one aimed at pre-paid markets with a cheaper iPhone 4-like construction, and a brand new one that should indeed be the long-awaited “iPhone 5″. Confusion around alleged prototypes running a new A5 chip (the same of the iPad 2) on older iPhone 4 bodies has also contributed to making it difficult to predict the next iPhone’s form factor, leading to contradicting reports about a faster “iPhone 4S”, a completely redesigned iPhone 5, or a mix of both. Most recent rumors and case leaks from manufacturers seem to indicate the new device will feature a thinner design with tapered edges.

Amidst speculation, a few interesting reports in the past months detailed how the next-generation iPhone could end up being sold on more than two carriers in the US. Currently, the iPhone 4 is sold in two colors on two carriers, AT&T and Verizon. The CDMA iPhone, built specifically for Verizon, was also rumored to be set for an expansion to other CDMA markets, such as Asia. Back in April, BGR showed what they claimed to be a prototype iPhone running on T-Mobile’s network — AT&T later announced its plans to acquire T-Mobile and it’s unclear now whether Apple could really release a T-Mobile iPhone in late 2011 with the acquisition expected to be approved and take full action by 2012.

Rumors of a Sprint iPhone arose in mid-2010 and were reinforced earlier this year by analysts’ claims of an iPhone for Sprint during the holidays, and a job posting appeared on Apple’s website. Sprint currently has 52 million subscribers and it’s the third largest mobile operator in the United States. The WSJ also briefly mentions some hardware details of the iPhone 5:

The new iPhone is expected to be similar to the current iPhone 4, but thinner and lighter with an improved digital camera and a new more sophisticated operating system.

According to the WSJ, AT&T and Verizon will begin selling the iPhone 5 in mid-October, too. TiPB was first to report the news of a likely October 7 launch date for the iPhone 5 two weeks ago, a rumor that was also corroborated by other blogs. The iPhone 5 is said to be a “world phone” as well, with an integrated system to work both on GSM and CDMA radio channels.

Boy Genius Report claims it has obtained information from a reliable source that Sprint is looking to launch the ZTE Peel, a case for the iPod Touch that turns the device into a 3G-capable unit, on November 14th. BGR also claims 29 bucks per month will grant you 1GB of data:

We don’t have any details on how much the actual device will sell for, but we do know Sprint plans on charging $29.99 per month for 1GB of data usage with no contract.

The ZTE Peel, approved by the FCC earlier this year, is basically a mobile hotspot that brings mobile cellular data to the iPod Touch, otherwise capable of working on Wifi-only.