RadioShack & Target Reducing iPhone 4 Price, Clearing Inventory for iPhone 5?

Today, I bring you a short piece of news, but one definitely with importance pertaining to the iPhone 5. Two particular retailers (suspense, even though I say who in the title) have dropped the price of the iPhone 4 in supposed anticipation of a new hardware update – in other words, possibly to clear up as much stock as possible in preparation for the iPhone 5.

It was thought over the weekend that iPhone retailers Target and RadioShack would soon be dropping the price of their iPhone 4s, and that speculation was confirmed yesterday by onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/08/retailers-dropping-prices-on-iphone-in-advance-of-impending-update.ars');" target="_blank" href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/08/retailers-dropping-prices-on-iphone-in-advance-of-impending-update.ars">ars technica. The two sellers, Target and RadioShack, have each dropped the price of both of their iPhone models, reasonably, with a $50 sale and $30 sale, respectively.

From ars technica:/> “We verified Monday morning that Radio Shack has a current promotion running through Saturday, offering the iPhone 4 for $169.99 and $269.99 for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively.

We also spoke to contract phone sales representatives from Chicago-area Target stores, who confirmed that the iPhone 4 can be had for $149.99 or $249.99 for 16GB or 32GB models with a two-year contract. Leaks over the weekend suggested Target may have different pricing depending on whether the iPhone was activated with AT&T or Verizon, but we were told that the price applies to both carriers.”

Why would they do such a thing? Maybe just in the spirit of…um…? The iOS world thinks not. Instead, it is thought that the two retailers are prepping for the release of the iPhone 5, which the date of is currently being debated over whether it’ll be a September launch or an October launch. The latter seems very unlikely at the moment, if in fact the two retailers are gearing up for its launch so early. Though this may be the case since the iPhone 4 sells so much.

But the contradictory point, is that other iPhone retailers are still selling the iPhone at its original price-point. Both AT&T and Verizon, when checked with, are still offering the phone for its regular $199/$299 for 2 year contract price, which leads me to think that 1) more retailers will begin to drop their price soon or 2) Target and RadioShack are feeling generous.

Regardless, people that have been preying on the iPhone 4, now’s definitely your chance to bite, unless you want to wait for the iPhone 5 release price drop for Apple’s then old hardware. Your call; the rumor mill isn’t being too decisive yet, so no one can tell you exactly how long you’d have to wait for that steep discount in price. Consider two months at the latest.

[Via onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/08/retailers-dropping-prices-on-iphone-in-advance-of-impending-update.ars');" target="_blank" href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/08/retailers-dropping-prices-on-iphone-in-advance-of-impending-update.ars">ars technica]