Are you one of the Apple fans disappointed the iPhone 4S didn’t live up to the months of hype over the “iPhone 5”? Don’t worry, the hype train is still chuggin’ along, this time it’s load is full of rumors about — guess what? — yes, the “iPhone 5.”
“They’re saving iPhone 5 for the LTE version and that won’t be out until next spring,” CNET quotes Will Strauss, president of mobile chip research firm Forward Concepts. “The current batch of LTE chips from Qualcomm are too clunky and bulky for the iPhone.”
Here’s how the thinking goes, but you have to buy into each step of speculation for this to work. In April, Apple CEO Tim Cook (then Apple’s Chief Operating Officer) downplayed talk of an LTE-based iPhone, telling reporters the first version of the chips “force a lot of design compromises.” Now, layer in the fact iPhone carriers in the U.S. — AT&T, Verizon and Sprint — won’t begin to have significant LTE networks until mid-2012. Next, sprinkle in this comment from chip guru Anand Shrimpi: A second-generation version of Qualcomm’s LTE chip, the MDM9615, appears “next year (Q2 to be exact)” and could fit into “something iPhone-sized.”
Shake, bake and make a few leaps of faith and you’ve revived the “iPhone 5” rumor for several more months. Never mind that iPhone suppliers need some lead-up time to produce an LTE iPhone, allowing some leaks — none of which appear to have made it into the media. Never mind that the “iPhone 5” would come on the heels of the iPhone 4S, potentially stealing some of its thunder — and customers. Never mind these current rumors of an LTE iPhone should do wonders for Qualcomm stock. Instead, in the tech world, rumors have a way of taking on their own life, becoming more real as they spread. Need an example? For months, the tech world was absolutely certain Apple would introduce this new iPhone everyone was calling the “iPhone 5.”
In other words, don’t hold your breath. If Apple does come out with an LTE iPhone, it’s easy to predict when that’ll be: October 2012, one year after the iPhone 4S launch.
