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Will iphone 5 be LTE? Or will it be another 3G phone again?
- Thread starter hcho3
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I think 2012 will see the LTE iPhone and I think that's when we'll see a verizon iPhone. The coverage won't be in place by mid year next year in enough major cities by ATT to warrant an LTE iPhone coming out IMHO. By 2012 Verizon coverage will match their 3G, and I'd expect AT&T to be at that level with LTE by that point as well. 2011 is just going to be too soon for LTE
This.
When Apple comes out with a 4G LTE iPhone, the MAJOR selling point is going to be the 4G speed (much like it was with the iPhone 3G). If the networks don't have the coverage in place (the most likely scenario), then Apple will hold off.
Probably no 4G iPhone until 2012.
I see only two companies with next generation (post 3G) networks as of now:
T-Mobile and their HSPDA+, which can be called 3.5g (because true 4G puts everything over IP, and doesn't separate phone and data traffic like 3G does.) However, this is only in a few places.
Sprint/Clear with the 4G Wi-Max. This is also in just a number of metro areas.
If I were a betting person, I'd say 2012 is the earliest, likely 2013 or 2014 once LTE is widespread.
T-Mobile and their HSPDA+, which can be called 3.5g (because true 4G puts everything over IP, and doesn't separate phone and data traffic like 3G does.) However, this is only in a few places.
Sprint/Clear with the 4G Wi-Max. This is also in just a number of metro areas.
If I were a betting person, I'd say 2012 is the earliest, likely 2013 or 2014 once LTE is widespread.
Other countries have more mature LTEs pilots and test runs than Verizon or AT&T on the states, and in fact a lot of those markets will be ready by the time the iPhone 5 is due, so I do see a very good chance of an LTE iPhone for next revision IMO.
I would see apple sticking to the world standard, it would be too expensive to create a LTE based phone that only works in 1country. Then they would have to create different versions of the phone which would be a real nightmare. Unless they can have a phone that works on coma, 3GS, and LTE, then I can see them supporting it.
Do the other countries use Or support LTE?
Do the other countries use Or support LTE?
Supposedly passing ~130 million people, which is more than ATT's 3G coverage when the iPhone 3G came out. (It'll be 2013 before full VZW coverage exists.)
Verizon has also forecast up to five LTE handsets will be available by next May.
The main thing that would hold back an LTE capable iPhone, is that Apple likes to hold back on features. (For example, being EDGE only at first.)
So it wouldn't be unexpected if they did a GSM+CDMA version first in 2011, then LTE in 2012.
YEs, many, actually they are ahead of the curve.
Also, "an LTE phone" won't be LTE "only" it will have to fall back to 3G maybe even all the way back to edge. (just like all current 3g phone fall back to edge and even gprs when 3g is not available)
Wow, you really need to do some research.
To start, lots of manufacturers build multiple versions of their phones to work on different networks.
Second, there is no "world standard". However the EU did choose to set GSM as a standard for their countries.
Third, LTE has been chosen by the GSMA as their 4G standard.
Lastly, yes, LTE has already rolled out in 2 European countries.
Agreed. I based my iPhone 4 purchase this year on this theory, so I hope we're right.
I'm betting iPhone 5 will be LTE ready
The current iPhone 4 is already capable/ready for additional bandwith capacity - not LTE capacity, however. SJ even said so at WWDC in June....paraphrasing here, but it was something to the effect that it (iPhone 4) is capable of larger data thresholds just as soon as the networks (AT&T) can open up a bit.
I see iP5 being deployed next year with LTE on board. I'm not a telecom engineer or anything, but iP4, 3GS, and 3G all run on 3G and default to EDGE when/where 3G is not available. I'm thinking this logic would apply directly to the iP5 - runs natively on LTE, but will default to 3G and perhaps EDGE when/where LTE is not available. Besides, hasn't it been confirmed that AT&T is scheduled to roll-out their LTE/4G standard early/middle of 2011? If so, this would time-up well with the iP5 release.
The current iPhone 4 is already capable/ready for additional bandwith capacity - not LTE capacity, however. SJ even said so at WWDC in June....paraphrasing here, but it was something to the effect that it (iPhone 4) is capable of larger data thresholds just as soon as the networks (AT&T) can open up a bit.
I see iP5 being deployed next year with LTE on board. I'm not a telecom engineer or anything, but iP4, 3GS, and 3G all run on 3G and default to EDGE when/where 3G is not available. I'm thinking this logic would apply directly to the iP5 - runs natively on LTE, but will default to 3G and perhaps EDGE when/where LTE is not available. Besides, hasn't it been confirmed that AT&T is scheduled to roll-out their LTE/4G standard early/middle of 2011? If so, this would time-up well with the iP5 release.
AT&T says they'll start deploying LTE in 2011, but haven't provided details.
What AT&T have said, is that they don't think there'll be a lot of consumer LTE handsets until 2014.
So AT&T is concentrating on a much less expensive upgrade to HSPA+ instead. Which is not a bad plan.
I wonder if it is an egg and chicken sort of thing. If Apple came out with LTE phones in 2011, I think that would light a major fire under those carriers to get cranking on pushing out LTE due to the large user base.
On the other hand, Apple doesn't exactly have a track record of pushing that stuff early. They're probably going to want to hold off until there's a substantial network for it to work off of.
On the other hand, Apple doesn't exactly have a track record of pushing that stuff early. They're probably going to want to hold off until there's a substantial network for it to work off of.
I think for Apple one of the major factors will be power consumption of the chip. If it's running efficiently by the time they start manufacturing and the carrier/s they launch on support it, we MIGHT see it (but that would imply Verizon....it's not likely that AT&T will have an LTE network up by that time).
I think it will be both 3G and 4G. This being the fact that 4G is only data, and voice would require a fallback network, namely 3G. I believe we will either see a Verizon
iPhone by the end of the year, or at the beginning of 2011. Here's for hoping it's soon! 
I know most manufacturers build multiple versions of their phones to work on different networks. But I don't see Apple building a different version of their phone for each country they want to sell it in.