A live image of Motorola’s XOOM bearing Sprint branding has leaked, adding fuel to the speculation that the carrier is next in line to grab the Android 3.0 Honeycomb slate. Shared by SprintUsers‘ r0fl, the picture doesn’t indicate whether Sprint intends to put 3G or 4G into the tablet.

However, rumors earlier this week claimed that Sprint was planning a WiMAX XOOM release (as well as an ATRIX 4G version running on its WiMAX network) which suggests that the carrier’s tablet will indeed use 4G out of the box. In fact, depending on when Verizon and Motorola get their LTE upgrade for the original XOOM organized, Sprint could beat them to market with the first 4G model: the carrier is tipped to be launching the new Motorola devices sometime in April.

Broader availability will hopefully help push down pricing for the XOOM as well, making it more competitive against the iPad 2.

[via BGR]