The Sprint iPhone 5 is finally arriving.

Sprint Nextel Corp. has finally hopped on the Apple bandwagon, and should begin selling the iPhone 5 in mid-October, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Another source told The Wall Street Journal that Sprint will begin selling the iPhone 4 concurrently with the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 is expected to be similar to the iPhone 4, but the new phone will include an improved operating system and a thinner model.

Apple has frequently hinted at the new release of the iPhone 5 coming to Sprint, as executives such as Apple's Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer had mentioned a major deal, but had previously declined to give specifics.

The iPhone 5 release should benefit Sprint, which has been struggling after its merger with Nextel last decade and and a lagging customer base compared to its rivals. When the iPhone first came out in 2007, it was only available to AT&T customers, and later to Verizon customers.

Sprint has 52 million customers and is the third largest U.S. wireless carrier, behind AT&T and Verizon, the nation's top carrier.

Sprint has opposed a merger deal between AT&T and T-Mobile USA out of concern that the merger will affect competition in the wireless industry, which could lead to higher prices and reduced service. At the time of the merger announcement, many analysts said that Sprint would likely need to make a large business deal to stay competitive in the wireless industry.

The merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA is awaiting approval by the Justice Department.

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