The Apple iPhone 3GS is shown at the company’s retail store in San Francisco, California in this June 19, 2009 file photo. ©Reuters

BEIJING, May 25 — Wal-Mart said it will slash the price of Apple’s 16GB 3GS iPhone to 97 U.S. dollars this week, according to media reports Tuesday.

Beginning Tuesday, the new price will save customers more than 100 U.S. dollars on the Apple’s handset, which currently sells for 199 dollars.

“It is our commitment to always lead on price,” Mehrdad Akbar, Wal-Mart’s senior category director for wireless, said in a statement.

But the deal requires the phone be purchased with a two-year contract from AT&T, iPhone’s exclusive service provider.

Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation handset next month, when Chief Executive Steve Jobs will deliver an opening keynote for the annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 7.

Apple sold 8.3 million iPhones last quarter, more than twice the amount sold during the same period a year ago. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-05/25/c_13315186.htm