Sprint today made the surprise announcement that the Samsung Instinct will sell for $130 on its June 20th launch date. The two-year contract price comes just over a week following the introduction of the rival iPhone 3G and significantly undercuts both the Apple device as well as an internal memo at the carrier which had suggested the same $199 subsidized price as for the iPhone. Sprint's price notably comes after an unusually steep $100 mail-in rebate and points to a more expensive price for the touchscreen phone outside of the deal.

The Instinct is regarded as Apple's most direct competition for its July 11th iPhone 3G launch and now matches some features closely, including 3G Internet access up to 1.4Mbps downstream as well as true GPS, Visual Voicemail, and a 2-megapixel camera. The Instinct however drops Apple's 8GB of built-in storage in favor of a microSDHC card slot while adding voice commands, audio MMS, and access to services such as Sprint's Internet TV feeds.