In the bizzaro land of both tech marketing and Wall Street analysis, reality can sometimes become twisted. For example, despite the long struggle to get Verizon onboard, one observer suggests Apple could leave them behind in the dust with the next iPhone by launching with 4G support on AT&T’s network only.
Hudson Square Research analyst Todd Rethemeier believes AT&T will have a “marketing advantage” over Verizon, prompting him to cut the carrier from Hold to Sell, moving the original iPhone provider to Buy. Essentially, Rethemeier tells investors AT&T’s 4G network is superior and farther developed than Verizon’s LTE. This leaves us shaking our heads in disbelief.
As we reported last month, AT&T’s throttled “4G” service (actually HSPA+, which is an advance in existing 3G technology, and significantly slower than LTE) would make a new Apple handset actually slower than an iPhone 4. AT&T recently announced it plans 10 LTE U.S. markets by the end of the year.
Although AT&T would lose some of that “marketing advantage” when an LTE network is present, the analyst contends an AT&T iPhone 6 could be backward compatible to HSPA+ when a faster connection is unavailable.
The analyst note hinges on a future that is “more likely than not.” However, we seem to put more weight on the “not” side of the equation.
What do you think? We’re skeptical that Apple would release a new iPhone that was gimped on one carrier and not the other, but maybe not all carriers are created equal in Apple’s eyes. Could the next iPhone support HSPA+ on AT&T but not Verizon? Let us know what you think.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
16 responses to “The Next iPhone Will Have 4G… But Only On AT&T [Rumor]”
Oh, you can bet your ass that AT&T is not allowed to use the word “4G” anywhere NEAR the iPhone 5, as that would have monumental consequences even worse than just calling HSPA+ 4G.
iPhones vast majority of customers are on GSM, so I think with a doubt, if the tech is right for Apple’s liking, they’ll go HSPA+, even if it “gimped” one CDMA carrier in one or two countries, when lik 95%+ of all iPhones are on GSM networks.
Actually given that Apple’s has been hinting that they won’t include 4G/LTE until the network is significantly robust, it is more like they would get Verizon first (as they started well before ATT).
The HSPA might be included in the next iphone but it won’t be a majorly called out feature for the iphone 5 because it is also rather lacking and they won’t want folks buying on the assumption that there must be service if Apple included it. And then pissed when that is not the case.
Could be one of the stipulations that “allowed” Apple to get out of the AT&T exclusivity a year early?
Absolutely absurd !!!
WTF is up with that picture? It will haunt me for eternity!!!
WTF is up with that picture? It will haunt me for eternity!!!
haha.. i wonder what picture they will put up when iphone 5 will actually get launched.. :D
It’s so funny how according to American marketing, us Australians have already had 4G service since December 2008.