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Sprint Corp. ramped up the battle for customers in the cutthroat competition among wireless carriers and took a swipe at rival T-Mobile US Inc. by announcing Thursday a new pricing plan that leases the newest iPhone for as little as $1 a month.

In a statement titled "Not So Fast T-Mobile," Sprint said that for a limited time beginning on Sept. 25, customers enrolled in its so-called iPhone Forever program will be able to trade in an iPhone 6 and lease a 16-gigabyte iPhone 6s for $1 a month, and the Plus model, which is bigger, for $5 a month.

The move comes a day after T-Mobile unveiled its own new pricing plan that offered the popular smartphone for monthly installments of $5. A T-Mobile representative didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Once again, it is clear that the best place to get the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus is Sprint," said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.

Wireless carriers have been trying to squeeze growth out a mature U.S. market by luring new customers with installment plans linked to equipment upgrades and relying less on traditional 2-year contracts.

Apple has also entered the scrum, announcing recently that it would finance iPhone sales directly to customers for the first time without requiring them to be tied to a particular carrier.

T-Mobile has been successfully snatching away market share by aggressively slashing its prices. Earlier this month, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said the company had already surpassed the 2.1 million net subscriber additions it posted in its previous quarter with nearly two weeks remaining in the current quarter. T-Mobile officially passed Sprint in total wireless connections last month.

Shares of Sprint and T-Mobile declined 1.6% and 2.2%, respectively, in recent trading amid broader market declines.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 24, 2015 12:15 ET (16:15 GMT)

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