Well Apple has unveiled their new iPhone 4 handset which is due release quite soon, and what usually happens when a new iPhone hits is many defect from their current carrier to grab the latest Apple device from its exclusive carrier AT&T.

According to an article over on Cnet by Marguerite Reardon, during an investor conference on Wednesday, Sprint’s chief financial officer, Robert Brust said, “Every year all U.S. carriers, except AT&T, go through a little trauma called ‘iPhone introduction. We have a little churn issue called ‘People leaving to go to the iPhone.’ As people’s contracts expire they leave and go to AT&T for the iPhone.”

However, Brust went on to add that he is “hopeful” that the HTC EVO 4G will stem some of those traditional losses, saying, “Our hope is that we won’t lose as many customers this year as we have in the past.”

Brust also stated that the Big Blue’s network problems along with their new tiered pricing plan may just give some potential iPhone 4 customers pause. Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO remarked “AT&T has been getting a lot of flack for its network. People all over the country have been complaining about the service. And they’ve raised rates for some of their customers. I think they are under a lot of stress right now.”

Last time round, Sprint tried to cut defection to the new iPhone by introducing the Palm Pre and although the device did well in its first few days, sales were nowhere close to the iPhone. However, this time round, Burst believes that the HTC EVO 4G is a much more compelling device than the Palm Pre.

The HTC EVO 4G is a phone that people can get instead of the iPhone 4, and last year we were in the distance but now we are catching up, said Burst.