Look, this is total nonsense, so take it with a grain of salt, but Apple’s carrier partner in the United Arab Emirates has just seemingly confirmed that the next iPhone will come with LTE 4G. We say no way.
Here’s what the head honcho of etisalat’s corporate communication told GulfNews:
Yes, we are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year. As the first telecom organisation to roll out the 4G network, LTE, in the Middle East, we have already started talking to them for the handsets and chipsets in them.
This guy’s talking out of the wrong extremity, and here’s why: Apple is simply not going to launch an LTE handset before both Verizon and AT&T have a respectable LTE presence in the United States. Verizon’s rolled out true 4G to a good chunk of America now, but AT&T — Apple’s biggest domestic carrier partner — hasn’t even started, and won’t start until July.
With the iPhone 4S (or iPhone 5) slated to debut this September for a rumored October release, LTE simply isn’t going to be available to most customers this year. Add in the fact that LTE is a battery hog and that 4G chipsets that meet Apple’s energy standards probably won’t be available until early next year, and what you have here is a very counterintuitive and unreliable report.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
22 responses to “Apple’s Middle East Carrier Partner Confirms iPhone 5 Will Support LTE”
Apple would be rolling out an iPhone on a new, untested network that is only 3 months old. I think you can see why that’d be a bad idea.
As the old saying goes “If Apple doesn’t announce it, I won’t believe it.”
I hope the next iPhone is at least fake 4G (ie. HSPA+).
I hope they do. I thought the new chipsets were due around september or something. Whatever, I’ll buy the next iPhone no matter what it is. I want LTE though
I’ve heard the same thing, but my understanding was that it would be a limited roll-out of the next-gen chipset. The scuttle I heard was that Apple was first in line to test them, but that wide release wouldn’t happen until the fabs geared up the beginning of next year.
FWIW.
yeah bit it wouldn’t be the first time Apple would get the product first. The sandy bridge MBP’s were out before anyone else could get sandy bridge and I hope apple gets the good LTE chips first, and in time for the next iPhone
Why?
4G is not widespread.
Is useless now
4G may not be widespread in the US but in Australia, we’ve had 42Mbps HSPA+ since mid-2010. It would be nice to take advantage of the network.
Thunderbold isn’t either ;P
nice try.