Sprint's Rumored $20 Billion Deal to Buy 30 Million iPhone 5s: A Big Gamble?

For more than a month now, Apple Inc. has dominated tech headlines with anticipation of its iPhone announcement Tuesday. But its rumored $20 billion deal with Sprint Nextel Corp. has left its followers in a fix.

The rumored release of the much-awaited iPhone 5, coupled with speculation of Sprint's purchase of 30.5 million iPhones from Apple, both seem like enormous stories if confirmed.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Sprint has agreed to purchase the phones over the next four years, running until 2014.

If the information seems hard to believe, a report on BGR.com asserts that Sprint will be getting the real iPhone 5, and not the iPhone 4S, as an exclusive, unlike previous reports that said it will get both products. This might mean that AT&T and Verizon will launch the iPhone 4S.

According to the BGR report, AT&T and Verizon will get a proper iPhone 5 early next year, running on each respective carrier's 4G LTE networks. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Web site also reported that the new iPhone 5 will be a 4G WiMax device.

Neither Apple nor Sprint has confirmed the news.

We don't comment on rumors and speculation, Kathleen Dunleavy of Sprint told the Wall Street Journal.

Does it look like a multibillion-dollar bet for Sprint, the No. 3 wireless carrier in the U.S.?

This is a massive gamble, since the company is struggling to make ends meet as it is, so this really has to work for them or else the company might very well be in big, big trouble in a few years, Thom Holwerda said in a report on OSnews.

To sell all of these iPhones, Sprint has to double its customer base - or convert all of its existing customers to iPhones, he added.

Holwerda also points that even if Sprint can't sell all of them, Apple still gets the money, which is certainly the truth.

Stay tuned for more iPhone news and Apple's unbelievable ventures, especially now that the Let's talk iPhone press event at its Cupertino headquarters is upon us.

It is hoped that Apple clears the air as soon as possible, about the iPhone5 and 4S release rumors and also about its deal with Sprint.