Report: No 4G iPhone In 2011, From AT&T or Verizon
October 11, 2010
Recently, both The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have reported on a January release for Verizon’s first iPhone. Now, attention is shifting to a discussion regarding the speed of the network that the next models of Apple’s device will run on.
Both Verizon and AT&T are promising 4G networks in 2011 based on LTE, which stands for 3GPP Long Term Evolution.
However, according to TechCrunch, Apple has decided that the next iPhone will not run on a 4G/LTE network. Rather, “Apple will produce a dual mode iPhone containing 3G flavors of GSM and CDMA, which operates on all carriers worldwide. If this holds true, Apple won’t support the LTE standard until some time in 2012.”
Apparently, Apple does not want to be a guinea pig for the new LTE network. And, if history is any guide, this report is most likely accurate. In 2007 when the first iPhone was released, it supported AT&T’s maturing 2.5G EDGE network. This was despite the wide availability of 3G. It was only after 3G matured that Apple included it in the second generation iPhone model.
According to TechCrunch:
Apple doesn’t want to mess with the first generation of LTE chipsets, since they will be bulky and power hungry. Instead, Apple will make a unified model that works across 3G networks on all carriers, and innovate with incredible new features like NFC which mirror what they accomplished with FaceTime on iPhone 4.If TechCrunch is correct, the next version of Apple’s popular device, on either AT&T or Verizon will not include 4G (LTE) capabilities. If you’re waiting for that, 2012 is probably the earliest it will become available.
