Sprint Nextel, the third largest wireless carrier in the United States, will begin selling Apple's new iPhone 5 in mid-October, U.S. media reported on Tuesday.
Sprint will also carry iPhone 4, the current generation of Apple's hot-selling smartphone, starting at the same time, The Wall Street Journal said in a report, citing people familiar with the situation.
Getting the iPhone is a big win for Sprint, whose results have suffered without being able to sell Apple's popular device, and it will also benefit Apple with the addition of another marketing channel in the Unites States.
AT&T, the second largest U.S. wireless carrier, has relied on previous versions of iPhone to drive its sales since 2007.
Verizon Wireless, the country's No. 1 wireless carrier, began selling the iPhone 4 this February.
Numbers showed that Sprint had more than 52 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter, compared with 106 million for Verizon and nearly 99 million for AT&T.
It was reported that Verizon and AT&T will also begin selling the iPhone 5 in mid-October.
