AT&T appears to be the latest announcing higher iPhone sales. Continued “strong” demand for iPhone 4S likely will push the carrier beyond its previous single-quarter record sales of 6.1 million smartphones — and a month still remains before the end of the fourth quarter. The news isn’t too surprising, given in October AT&T activated 1 million iPhone 4S handsets in just five days.
Sprint may want to rename its “Now Network” to the “Later Is Better Than Never Network” after the carrier’s finance chief pushed back 4G LTE to late 2012. Although the new delay puts the third-place wireless carrier further behind Verizon and AT&T, the new rollout date for the faster network should coincide with Apple’s iPhone 5, expected to use LTE.
In the latest report regarding Apple’s future adoption of LTE/4G for its mobile devices, Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo is allegedly set to release a 4G-equipped iPad in the summer of 2012. An LTE-equppied iPhone is then set to premiere in the fall of next year.
We’ve been hearing whispers about a 4G/LTE-flavored iPhone for quite some time, and Macotakara is relaying that Apple has been in talks with carriers about making 4G a reality for its next-generation devices.
Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, has spoken out about AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile and deemed the merger to be against the public interest. Genachowski has called for commissioners to vote for an administrative public hearing against the $39 billion, which could prove to be a huge setback for the two carriers.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has been blunt about Cupertino’s plans for adopting LTE: they’d love to, but they’re waiting on next-gen LTE chipsets that aren’t so power-thirsty they’ll turn your iPhone’s battery pack into a desiccated husk within seconds of flipping the 4G radio on.
Well, Qualcomm may have just announced the next-gen LTE chipset that might finally allow Apple to roll out 4G speeds to iDevices in 2012.
Not many of us expected Apple to introduce LTE or 4G capabilities to its fifth-generation iPhone, but according to one Swedish carrier, the Cupertino company would be killing its iPhone 5 if it doesn’t adopt LTE technology by then.
The stars seem to be aligning for an LTE iPhone in 2012. Friday, Sprint announced it plans to offer wireless 4G service “by the middle of 2012” with the faster wireless network complete by the end of 2013. This bolsters reports earlier this week that thinner LTE chips for the iPhone could be ready by the third quarter of next year.
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.”
A China Unicom executive has just confirmed that Apple’s next iPhone will be 4G-capable. But surround air quotes around 4G, because we’re not talking LTE: we’re talking 21Mbps HSPA+ technology. In other words, marketing 4G.
This image of an AT&T van parked outside an Apple store in San Francisco has sparked speculation over whether or not the upcoming fifth-generation iPhone will have 4G/LTE capabilities. Why? Because that Apple store is closed for refurbishment, set to reopen on October 5 — a day after the rumored unveiling of Apple’s new iPhone — and is thought to be having AT&T’s LTE base stations installed inside
.
China Mobile’s chairman, Wang Jianzhou, revealed in an interview today that Apple has given the carrier a “positive answer” to its request for an iPhone compatible with 4G LTE networks.
Well, this is juicy! Following yesterday’s report that Apple was already testing an LTE-equipped iPhone with carriers comes this insider photo, showing that AT&T is secretly installing LTE equipment in at least one retail Apple store. Whoa!
The safe bet is that the iPhone 5 will stick with 3G instead of lightning fast LTE 4G mobile broadband, but not so fast! A new report on Monday says that Apple’s 4G-capable carrier partners are already testing iPhones with LTE capability.
Of all the things we expect to see from Apple’s iPhone 5 in the coming months, it isn’t super-speedy LTE capabilities. However, China Mobile says that it has struck a deal with Apple to bring the next-genearation iPhone to its 4G TD-LTE network.
If the upcoming next-gen iPhone likely won’t get 4G LTE, what will keep consumers’ interest? Turns out the iPhone 5 (or whatever the handset is eventually named) is going to be a ‘bigger upgrade than expected.’
If you feel like taking AT&T’s LTE network for a spin but don’t want to wait until Apple releases a 4G iPhone? Ma Bell has just announced two new 4G LTE devices: one to hook up to your Mac, and one that can even give your iPhone or iPad true 4G speeds.
There are a lot of reasons why it’s unlikely that the next iPhone won’t boast true LTE speeds. For one thing, the national coverage for LTE is virtually non-existent. For another, first-gen LTE chipsets are by Apple’s own estimation far too juice hungry to go into the iPhone.
If you needed any more cold water dashed on your hopes of an iPhone 4G in September, though, consider iSuppli’s latest report. They say that an LTE chip in the iPhone would make it the bulkiest and most expensive iPhone yet.
Remember that Lulzsec hack the other day that showed that AT&T was already testing iPads on their next generation 4G network?
Well, there’s even more interesting information in the leak than that. Complete details about AT&T’s proposed LTE data plans make it clear that when Apple does release an iPhone or iPad 4G, prohibitive data caps, massive overage charges and automatically throttled bandwidth will be the rule of the day.
Short of Sprint’s WiMax, Verizon LTE has no actual competition to speak of in the 4G market. AT&T and T-Mobile’s “4G” is really just supercharged HSPA+ 3G technology, after all. So the results of PC Mag’s nationwide mobile bandwidth test shouldn’t be much of a surprise: Verizon LTE just mops the floor with the competition.
That’s not going to last though. Here’s why.
Notorious hacker group Lulzsec finished off their string of fifty high-profile server hacks yesterday with a bang: they released some AT&T internal documents that reveals that AT&T have already tested the iPad running on their next-gen 4G LTE network.
Apple COO Tim Cook happened to pop on by China Mobile’s headquarters earlier today. You know, just happened to be in the neighborhood, thought he’d see what was going on. No biggie.
Except China Mobile isn’t currently partnered with Apple. Oh, and they just happen to be the world’s largest mobile phone carrier, providing for over six hundred million customers. Biggie indeed.
Next month, AT&T will start rolling out its LTE network in the United States, prepping the ground for the launch of an LTE-equipped iPhone in 2012. Even though Ma Bell doesn’t actually have a 4G network in place right now, though, that’s not stopping them from selling 4G phones and bragging about their 4G speeds. New legislation working its way through the house wouldn’t stop that, but would make them append a caveat: their minimum data speeds.
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.
Good news for AT&T iPhone owners envious of Verizon’s next-generation LTE network: Apple’s original U.S. carrier Wednesday announced the faster transmission technique will become available this summer, setting the stage for iPhones and iPad’s based on the 150Mbps technology in 2012.
An LTE-capable iPhone isn’t likely to be unveiled until 2012, but when it does, you may want to sign your contract with AT&T, as early test speed results show that Ma Bell’s LTE network might be up to six times faster than Verizon’s.
