We know that a lot of rumors have been trying to nail-down the specifics of Apple’s next iPhone release plans, and it’s likely you’re starting to tire of them; after all, why keep speculating when we’ll find out for sure in a day’s time? There’s a point to be had there, but this newest rumor we’ve heard is just so specific, a bit ridiculous, and yet with some apparent backing to it, that we just have to share it with you. Supposedly, AT&T and Verizon will get the iPhone 4S, while Sprint has scored itself an iPhone 5 exclusive.

The rumor itself has been stewing for a little while now, but it hadn’t been widely disseminated for lack of any sort of confirmation. Then today, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint was making a deal with Apple that would have it commit to ordering 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years, worth somewhere in the range of $20 billion. With that kind of money on the table, the prospect of a Sprint exclusive sounds a whole lot more plausible.

As far as the hardware goes, the iPhone 4S Verizon and AT&T get would have a low-power A5 chip, higher-resolution cameras, and NFC. The iPhone 5, then, would be a WiMAX device with a faster A5 CPU, an upgrade to a four-inch display, double the RAM, and exclusive software like Assistant. Then, next year, Verizon and AT&T would get the iPhone 5 as an LTE model.

We’ve got to say, though the idea of a Sprint exclusive sounds like a bit of a stretch, there’s a lot here that would make sense fitting-in with some of the other rumors we’ve heard. Of course, there are plenty others it contradicts with, so we’ll just wait until tomorrow for the official word.

Source: BGR, The Wall Street Journal