Taking their sweet time about it, Sprint will be following the likes of Verizon Edge, AT&T Next and T-Mobile Jump with an annual update plan all of their own. The plan is called One Up, and it will be available on Sprint the same day the iPhone 5S/5C go on sale: September 20th.

According to a report from CNET, Sprint’s One Up plan will let you buy the smartphone you want with no money down. Instead, you’ll pay in larger monthly installments for a period of 24 months. If you cancel your service, you have to cough up the full price of the phone you bought, but after one year, you can upgrade to a new phone, starting the clock over.

Like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile’s annual upgrade plans, Sprint’s plan will likely be more expensive than simply signing up for a normal two-year plan and paying $199 for your phone up front. However, Sprint will apparently be offering a perk that the other carriers are not: a $15 discount on Sprint’s Unlimited, My Way or All-In plans.

The result is that Sprint’s One-Up Plan will, at the very least, offer discounted service to people who opt to spend more on their smartphones… a deal that the likes of AT&T and Verizon isn’t yet prepared to match.

Sprint’s One-Up program isn’t live or official yet, but it sounds like a sure thing. We’ll keep you posted.

• SourceCNET