Will the iphone five work if the sim card is not inside it? (sprint)?

I have the iPhone 4s from sprint and the phone works as a phone even if the sim card is not actually placed inside the phone. I was wondering if this would also be the case if I got the iphone five from sprint. In other words, will the sprint iPhone 5 work without the sim card actually installed inside the phone like my 4s works?

I don't think so. Here's why…

The iPhone 4S for Sprint and Verizon has both CDMA and GSM capabilities. The main Sprint (and Verizon) network is CDMA, but a SIM slot was included to let the phone work as a GSM phone outside the USA.

However, the iPhone 5 is an LTE/3G phone, and that type of phone always requires a SIM, even for Verizon and Sprint.