Apple Looking to Develop iPhone Based on TD-LTE?

[jayducharme]

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.

And if you did decide to download movies on the go, you'd better have an unlimited data plan. The only benefit I can see LTE bringing to the carriers is that people will be eating up their data plans at a ridiculous rate of speed. That $10 per extra GB will add up fast!

 

[edk99]

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.

it sure did not stop people from buying the first iPhone as it was only 2g when 3g was way more rolled out then LTE is right now. I'm fine with the speed of the 3g network where i'm at so that is not going to stop me from getting an iPhone5 in a few months and probably won't stop to many others either.

 

[edk99]

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.

Nope it does not because it would also have a 3g and 2g radio in it. Just like the 3g one has a 2g radio for when you are out of a 3g area.

 

[Tones2]

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.

No. It would most likely be backward capatible with 3G, same as most other 4G phone that exist today are.

Tony

 

[Tailpike1153]

Don't you know? US 4G = UK 3G!

Which is pretty disappointing. THe rest of the world gets highspeed networks. The US gets label trickery. Tmo & ATT don't want to tell the truth. I know your "4G" is really 3G+. No need to be coy about it.

 

[smithrh]

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?

No. LTE is an inevitability at this point, across the globe.

Get enough big markets up and running and LTE on the iPhone will quickly follow.

 

[Tones2]

Nope it does not because it would also have a 3g and 2g radio in it. Just like the 3g one has a 2g radio for when you are out of a 3g area.

D'OH. Beat me to it!

 

[smithrh]

Which is pretty disappointing. THe rest of the world gets highspeed networks. The US gets label trickery. Tmo & ATT don't want to tell the truth. I know your "4G" is really 3G+. No need to be coy about it.

How is it disappointing that the US leads in LTE?

Having said that, yes it's disappointing that AT&T (and TMO) have started calling UMTS 4G, it certainly confuses things. For this, we have the bumbling ITU to thank. Before the ITU foolishly got involved, 4G=LTE. Now, damn near everything is going to be called 4G.

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Lesson to be learned: there is always something better on the horizon and you can wait forever. Buy when you need it and be happy!

 

[derek1984]

2012

It's pretty obvious to me: 2012 will be the year to buy Apple products (for me anyways). Wait for the iPad 3 with retina. Wait for iPhone 6 with 4G.

 

[ciTiger]

It has to go LTE eventually but i find it hard to believe it is this year.

 

[pmz]

iPhone 5 will be nice, but it won't be 4G. Not yet. Another year.

By mid-2012, everyone will be on the edge of their seating waiting for a 4G iPhone 6 to grace the market with its presence.

 

[smithrh]

iPhone 5 will be nice, but it won't be 4G. Not yet. Another year.

By mid-2012, everyone will be on the edge of their seating waiting for a 4G iPhone 6 to grace the market with its presence.

...and, by that time, there will be enough networks running LTE for people to care. Plus, the mobile chipsets to support LTE will be into their next generation, bringing better performance, lower drain and lower cost.

 

[Illusion986]

It's pretty obvious to me: 2012 will be the year to buy Apple products (for me anyways). Wait for the iPad 3 with retina. Wait for iPhone 6 with 4G.

After all 2012 might be the last year to buy apple products.

 

[rman726]

it sure did not stop people from buying the first iPhone as it was only 2g when 3g was way more rolled out then LTE is right now. I'm fine with the speed of the 3g network where i'm at so that is not going to stop me from getting an iPhone5 in a few months and probably won't stop to many others either.

That may be true, but the first iPhone had no competition. There wasn't a phone out there in 2007 that was even close to being competitive with it. The iPhone with 2G was still much more functional than the other phones with 1 inch screens that had 3G.

That is no longer the case. There are now legitimate iPhone competitors that have 4G (well more like 3.5G) capabilities. If Apple doesn't produce a phone that is at least HSPA+ capable, which they can at least advertise as 4G (even though it won't be true 4G), that will be a major mistake on their part in my opinion. I love my iPhone 3GS, and am anxious to upgrade to the iPhone 5. But if they don't at least offer HSPA+, I'm going to seriously consider switching to another phone. It will depend on when I go into the stores, and check out my other options. I don't plan on staying with my 3GS when the iPhone 5 comes out though. So it's going to be the iPhone 5 or something else.

And this is coming from someone relatively knowledgeable on the "4G" options. I don't claim to know everything about it, but I at least have a semi-decent understanding of the technologies. Just imagine all the consumers who have no idea and will bow down to the commercials telling them how fast 4G is compared to the iPhone's 3G. I think it will be a monster marketing mistake from Apple if they indeed don't at least offer HSPA+.

 

[cvaldes]

How is it disappointing that the US leads in LTE?

It does not. Try Sweden and Norway.

The majority of the world is focused on building out their 42Mbps HSPA+ networks. A lot of carriers are waiting for the LTE voice spec to be finished before deploying.

Verizon doesn't have a choice but to deploy a next-generation network whose spec isn't even finished. EV-DO is a dead end.

 

[smithrh]

It does not. Try Sweden and Norway.

The majority of the world is focused on building out their 42Mbps HSPA+ networks. A lot of carriers are waiting for the LTE voice spec to be finished before deploying.

Verizon doesn't have a choice but to deploy a next-generation network whose spec isn't even finished. EV-DO is a dead end.

Verizon's LTE deployment > Sweden and Norway's LTE deployment.

 

[2992]

is 1 or 2 phones in that pic?

 

[DrJohnnyN]

Lesson to be learned: there is always something better on the horizon and you can wait forever. Buy when you need it and be happy!

+1 Agreed. Life is too short.

 

[cvaldes]

Verizon's LTE deployment > Sweden and Norway's LTE deployment.

What percentage of Sweden and Norway's population has access to the TeliaSonera LTE networks? I mean today.

What percentage of USA's population has access to Verizon Wireless's LTE network? I mean today.

 

[cvaldes]

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.

Nah, but Apple would need to decide if the added expense (those chips and royalties aren't free) is worth it. LTE currently requires its own chipset which adds bulk and chews up power. It's basically a cost-benefit analysis.

Once LTE finalizes the voice specification of the standard, perhaps more carriers will proceed with deploying LTE. Right now, the spec isn't complete, and understandably, a lot of carriers probably don't want the risk of spending money for an extra generation of equipment. They are focused on improving their HSPA+ networks for now.

HSPA+ goes to 88Mbps for the downlink which is close to what these first-generation LTE networks are doing (~100Mbps). Plus HSPA+ chipsets are backwards compatible with HSPA and older technologies.

My guess is that there is a prototype LTE iPhone 5 sitting in a lab in Cupertino. It's quite possible that it is expensive, the battery life sucks, and if you traveled around the world with it, you wouldn't be able to tell that there's a faster cellular chip in there in most places.

 

[taxiapple]

What percentage of Sweden and Norway's population has access to the TeliaSonera LTE networks? I mean today.

What percentage of USA's population has access to Verizon Wireless's LTE network? I mean today.

Sweden & Norway ....87.34%

Verizon.......76.93%

 

[CFreymarc]

I know it probably won't happen, but I really hope the iPhone 5 is "4G"

Dude, I'll say it again as my personal prediction.

WWDC this summer: iPhone 4G. Same look at iPhone 4 with totally new guts and 4G

Spring 2012: iPhone 5. New look, near field communications for "touch terminal" retail sales. Apple launches competitor to PayPal for it.

 

[iEdd]

WWDC this summer: iPhone 4G. Same look at iPhone 4 with totally new guts and 4G

I don't think it's likely. 3G was far more widespread in 2007 than the so-called 4G is now, yet the first iPhone didn't include it.

Spring 2012: iPhone 5. New look, near field communications for "touch terminal" retail sales. Apple launches competitor to PayPal for it.

That would be iPhone 6, given your 2011 "iPhone 4G" would be the 5th iPhone.

What would be the advantage of using the iPhone as a touch terminal in sales? The current low-tech version is an RFID chip inside credit/debit cards that you touch to make purchases. As everyone has at least a debit card, wouldn't it be a lower overhead for shops to implement touch purchasing for cards, rather than for phones?

That said, maybe it would be appealing for customers to have their purchases for literally everything consolidated within their Apple account...

 

[cvaldes]

Dude, I'll say it again as my personal prediction.

WWDC this summer: iPhone 4G. Same look at iPhone 4 with totally new guts and 4G.

I'm questioning the likelihood of this now. I expect the iPhone 5 to largely match the specs of the iPad 2.

The iPad 2 does not list HSPA+ in its specs. This seemed like a natural, given the heavy data usage on a non-voice device, yet it is not there. This makes me wonder if HSPA+ will show up in the iPhone 5.