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Reuters briefly reports on comments from China Mobile chairman Wang Jianzhou claiming that Apple has "expressed interest" in developing an iPhone capable of running on the carrier's TD-LTE network currently under development.
China Mobile Ltd, the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, said on Friday that Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobs has expressed interest in developing an iPhone based on the Chinese carrier's network standard.

China Mobile is developing its next-generation TD-LTE mobile network technology and there have been talks over a possible iPhone tie-up with the carrier.
Time-division LTE (TD-LTE), developed by China Mobile, is a variation on the LTE standard that can offer certain benefits over traditional frequency-division LTE (FD-LTE), including lower cost of deployment and dynamic balancing of upload and download bandwidth. Reports have indicated that the same chip can be used to allow devices to access both traditional LTE and TD-LTE networks.

Although TD-LTE is a homegrown standard from China Mobile, it has started to gain acceptance from other operators around the world who have been trialling the technology as an alternative to FD-LTE.

While LTE networks are beginning to go live on several major carriers around the world, full adoption and build-out will not occur for quite some time, and reports have indeed suggested that Apple will skip LTE compatibility on the fifth-generation iPhone presumably scheduled to launch just a few months from now. Consequently, most observers are looking to an LTE-compatible iPhone launch in mid-2012.

Article Link: Apple Looking to Develop iPhone Based on TD-LTE?
 

Donz0r

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2006
903
23
I know it probably won't happen, but I really hope the iPhone 5 is "4G"
 

v66jack

macrumors 6502a
May 20, 2009
669
1
London, UK
Apple may aswell have just hoisted a flag saying 'Dont buy the iPhone 5'

Or maybe they want people to buy the new iPad over iPhone 5?

Who knows how Apple's mind works.
 
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Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
I know it probably won't happen, but I really hope the iPhone 5 is "4G"

Back in January I was convinced that 2012 would be the year of the LTE iPhone.

But now...well I still don't know...but I consider it a possibility now. That's a pretty major change in my opinion. We'll see.

An interesting thought...perhaps at&t will get their HSPA+ iPhone and Verizon will get an LTE iPhone. They'll both advertise them as '4G' on their TV ads, but tests will clearly show Verizon's is faster.

This would be an interesting turnaround from what we see today, and perhaps a way for Verizon to make up lost ground. Verizon would love that so much I could see them spending millions of dollars over the last year to help Apple finish their design in time for such a thing.

Not saying that's true. I'm just saying Verizon has a VERY strong motivation to make that true.
 

goobot

macrumors 603
Jun 26, 2009
6,476
4,360
long island NY
Back in January I was convinced that 2012 would be the year of the LTE iPhone.

But now...well I still don't know...but I consider it a possibility now. That's a pretty major change in my opinion. We'll see.

An interesting thought...perhaps at&t will get their HSPA+ iPhone and Verizon will get an LTE iPhone. They'll both advertise them as '4G' on their TV ads, but tests will clearly show Verizon's is faster.

This would be an interesting turnaround from what we see today, and perhaps a way for Verizon to make up lost ground. Verizon would love that so much I could see them spending millions of dollars over the last year to help Apple finish their design in time for such a thing.

Not saying that's true. I'm just saying Verizon has a VERY strong motivation to make that true.
both att and Verizon are going lte. If Verizon gets a 4g Lte iphone att will too.
 

smithrh

macrumors 68030
Feb 28, 2009
2,722
1,730
Major correction needed

Ahem.... TDD-LTE is NOT, in any way, something for China Mobile only, nor is China Mobile developing TDD-LTE.

The equipment manufacturers are the ones developing TDD-LTE. China Mobile is testing it, yes, but they're a _consumer_ of TDD-LTE.

TDD-LTE has been developed as a competitor to, and a replacement for, WiMax.
 
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cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
Back in January I was convinced that 2012 would be the year of the LTE iPhone.

But now...well I still don't know...but I consider it a possibility now. That's a pretty major change in my opinion. We'll see.

An interesting thought...perhaps at&t will get their HSPA+ iPhone and Verizon will get an LTE iPhone. They'll both advertise them as '4G' on their TV ads, but tests will clearly show Verizon's is faster.

This would be an interesting turnaround from what we see today, and perhaps a way for Verizon to make up lost ground. Verizon would love that so much I could see them spending millions of dollars over the last year to help Apple finish their design in time for such a thing.

Not saying that's true. I'm just saying Verizon has a VERY strong motivation to make that true.
For the past year I've insisted that LTE was not coming to the 2011 iPhone, that it would be 2012 or 2013.

Apple probably has a prototype LTE iPhone 5 in a lab somewhere in Cupertino. My guess is it's expensive and the battery life sucks because the chipset is too bulky and power hungry. It is likely that Apple is waiting for smaller, cheaper, and power-thriftier silicon from Qualcomm.

I'm a bit surprised that HSPA+ is not part of the specs of the new iPad. Most of the GSM/UTMS world now has commercial HSPA+ deployments and quite a few markets are now on their second iteration (higher speeds).
 

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
both att and Verizon are going lte. If Verizon gets a 4g Lte iphone att will too.

Not really.

I mean, sure, it'll work where AT&T has LTE, but that won't be much this year. Verizon will have LTE available for a large number of their customes. AT&T LTE will hardly be anywhere.

That'll be reported on too in all the comparision articles written.

So no...for 2012 Verizon 4G really means 'LTE' and AT&T 4G really means 'HSPA+.'

I know they're both going to have LTE, but that's not the reality right now.

For the past year I've insisted that LTE was not coming to the 2011 iPhone, that it would be 2012 or 2013.

Apple probably has a prototype LTE iPhone 5 in a lab somewhere in Cupertino. My guess is it's expensive and the battery life sucks because the chipset is too bulky and power hungry. It is likely that Apple is waiting for smaller, cheaper, and power-thriftier silicon from Qualcomm.

Hey, I'm right with you. I saw how the 3G phone came in after everyone else had it. I expected the same thing this time around.

But now I kind of give it a low chance. Like...a 20% chance. Not much, but a lot more than the 0% chance I gave it before.
 

duaneu

macrumors 6502a
Jun 19, 2010
717
279
Bellevue, WA
No big rush for an LTE iPhone here. From today's Seattle Times:

"Over the past two years AT&T spent more than $200 million in its Seattle-area network and $1.3 billion in Washington state.

The company wouldn't specify upcoming local investments, but it will apparently spend at least that much again in the next couple of years as it builds capacity for the flood of data traffic from smartphones and mobile devices. Nationally it's spending $19 billion this year on capital projects, including the rollout of an LTE network, which will reach the Seattle area in 2013."
 

unlinked

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2010
698
1,217
Ireland
For the past year I've insisted that LTE was not coming to the 2011 iPhone, that it would be 2012 or 2013.

I think a significant proportion of the patents LTE depends on are owned by Nokia. Possibly there will be no LTE iPhone until the Nokia Apple patent fight is concluded.
 

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
One thing is pretty clear: Apple will not introduce a new iPhone that has worse battery performance than its predecessor. If the current LTE chipset has a negative impact on the handset's battery that cannot be compensated for with improved battery technology, Apple won't include it in the production model.
 

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
Can somebody enlighten me on what's so great about LTE? Out and about, I just do light browsing, and for that 3G is fine. It's not like I'd download HD movies on the road.

Faster iPhone internet is always nice to have, but it's not something I can get excited about. (Now, if ISP companies improved their broadband, that's something I'd get excited about!)
 

smithrh

macrumors 68030
Feb 28, 2009
2,722
1,730
Certainly a large enough market to develop for.

Many many companies have been blinded by the huge market sizes that India and China represent, to their detriment.

If you can't make money there, you aren't going to make it up in volume.

Laugh at that if you want, but many companies have tried to do just that.

Now, to be sure, China != India and India != China, but the point remains.

Having said that, if Apple can keep their margins up whilst they sell at volume, that would be the ticket to world domination as it were.

Can somebody enlighten me on what's so great about LTE? Out and about, I just do light browsing, and for that 3G is fine. It's not like I'd download HD movies on the road.

LTE gives end-users higher throughput at lower latency than 3G, it will approach what most people get out of cable modem connections today. You'll notice a difference in your browsing experience for sure. But if you're happy with 3G, you probably won't want to upgrade right away.

LTE will also not make current applications more pleasurable to use, but with any new leap in technology, new applications will be enabled by LTE that no one has thought of yet.

Plus, LTE brings a lot of benefits to the operators, including much lower costs (OPEX and CAPEX), but I won't get into that.
 

kazmac

macrumors G4
Mar 24, 2010
10,086
8,627
Any place but here or there....
wow now I'm really confused

about what to get once my iPhone contract expires in September: iPhone 5 & iPad 2 or MBA.

After reading this, I may just get different phone come September. I've been meh about the iPad 2, but reading this and going over a pros/cons list of iPad 2 vs. Macbook Air leave me thinking I may not be making the best decision with the iPhone 5, or the iPad for that matter.

:eek:
 

cvaldes

macrumors 68040
Dec 14, 2006
3,237
0
somewhere else
Can somebody enlighten me on what's so great about LTE? Out and about, I just do light browsing, and for that 3G is fine. It's not like I'd download HD movies on the road.
Well, that's the sort of thing it's designed for and many people do want to watch streaming video.

The initial LTE spec provides download speeds of 100Mbps which is four times faster than the 21Mbps HSPA+ networks currently deployed in many places on this planet.
 

decimortis

macrumors 6502a
Aug 28, 2007
548
1,474
Toronto
Potentially noobish question. Would every country that currently has an iPhone need to have LTE up and running for Apple to implement it in a future version of the phone?

D.
 
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