As the holiday season heats up, retailers are going aggressive with special offers. Leading the charge, Wal-Mart has put two of Apple's latest smartphones on sale just ahead of Christmas, cutting $72 off the iPhone 5, and about $41 off the iPhone 4S. With the prices slashed, Wal-Mart is offering 16GB iPhone 5 for $127 on contract, iPhone 4S for $47 on contract, and 16GB third-generation iPad with Wi-Fi for $399.

The phenomenal Apple deals came in as a great surprise as a typical entry level iPhone 5 costs $199 and the iPhone 4S costs $99. The deals will run for 30 days and are good for in-store purchases only, meaning you will have to visit a Wal-Mart store to get the discounts. The retailer giant announced that its iPad deal would feature a bonus $30 iTunes card beginning Dec. 17.

According to a 9 To 5 Mac report, Wal-Mart made several corrections in its press information about the Apple discounts before finalizing the holiday deal. "Wal-Mart's PR agency made multiple corrections to its original announcement today. While the first press release said the third-generation iPad would go on sale for $399 on Dec. 17, a later correction indicated the deal actually started today for the fourth-generation iPad. Now, this evening, Wal-Mart's PR agency has made another correction: today's $399 sale is for the third-generation iPad. The rollback prices for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S remain correct," the report said.

Though not many understand the mystery behind such great discounts, analysts believe Wal-Mart is willing to take a $72 loss on sales to get more people in its stores. Other U.S. retailers are also apparently taking the Wal-Mart route to attract customers during the ongoing holiday season. While Best Buy slashed its price of all iPhone 5 models, Target announced that it will cut Virgin Mobile's prepaid 16GB iPhone 4S price to $399.99 from $449.99 starting Dec. 16.