Orange Strips O2 of iPhone Exclusivity in UK

Let the price wars begin! Telefonica’s O2 plans to sell the Apple iPhone for free with a two-year contract, and now rival Orange says it’ll start carrying the iPhone for U.K. users later this year.

That will mark the end of O2’s two-year iPhone exclusivity and the possible start of an iPhone price war between the two mobile carriers. Orange, a division of France Telecom, won’t say how much it plans to charge for the device.

Still, some analysts are saying a price war isn’t in the offing because iPhone carriers tend to stay in similar price ranges.