If you have more invested in Apple than just what you paid for your MacBook, you've probably already heard the news. MarketWatch is reporting that China Mobile has reached an agreement with Apple regarding a future iPhone on their network.
China Mobile is home to over 600 million customers and has yet to offer Apple's smartphone. It seems though, that chairman Wang Jianzho doesn't expect that to be the case much longer...
Following other reports that Apple won't introduce an LTE-enabled iPhone until at least 2012, Digitimes has chimed in to affirm that there won't be an iPhone introduced with 4G speeds this year.
Besides the fact that Apple stated it wasn't planning on LTE adoption in the near future, the industry has indicated that bringing 4G to the iPhone simply isn't feasible right now. After the fifth generation iPhone is released this fall, it is expected that the sixth generation iPhone will have LTE support in 2012.
The notion of the next gen iPhone being a "4G" device has been debated for quite some time. Originally, it was thought to be a possibility that the next iPhone could bring 4G/LTE data speeds, but then Apple made a statement during its last earning's call that 4G would "force a lot of design compromises" that the company "was not willing to make."
A recent update to AT&T's marketing strategy changed the requirements for a device to be labeled "4G," and it was thought that the next iPhone would fall under these requirements. Now, another analyst from BMO Capital is stating that Apple won't release on iPhone with 4G speeds until at least 2012.
We've heard iPhone 5, 4G, 4GS, and 4S as possible names for Apple's next gen iPhone. Recently, select develepors started receiving iPhone '4S' prototypes for testing purposes. There's even been some leaked images of what is an alleged iPhone 4S with a slightly larger screen than the iPhone 4.
Following other hints that the next iPhone will be called the "4S," an industry analyst from Jefferies has reported that Apple will indeed call the device the iPhone 4S.
There's been plenty of debate as to when the iPhone will have 4G speeds. Some think it will happen with Apple's very next release, but most agree that we won't see any sort of LTE/4G speeds on our beloved iPhones until at least next year.
While any sort of iPhone 4G may be a long ways away here in the United States, a new case in South Korea is already equipping the iPhone 4 with WiMAX/4G data speeds...
Will Apple call the next gen iPhone the 4G? Most have been calling the unannounced device the iPhone 5, but recent reports speculate that Apple could end up calling it the 4s (like the 3GS).
AT&T has changed its 4G nomenclature to include devices that previously weren't fast enough to be considered "4G." In AT&T's latest series of marketing campaigns, they have started to call slower devices "4G." The devices that are referenced by AT&T posses the same speeds as what is expected from the next iPhone.
Want to win $1000? Well, you can if you live in the Seattle area and your iPhone bandwidth speeds are faster than T-Mobile's new flagship Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S 4G.
T-Mobile is publicly challenging all iPhone owners (Verizon and AT&T) in the Seattle area to a speed test against the T-Mobile Galaxy S 4G. T-Mobile states that if any iPhone user in that area is able to beat the Galaxy S 4G in a speed test, they will reward them with a $1,000 cash prize.
I can't think of a consumer electronics device I've ever seen garner as many rumors and as much speculation as Apple's iPhone 5. The storied device was expected to hit the shelves sometime this summer like previous models, but it is now rumored to be pushed back until late fall or early 2012.
The rumors aren't just limited to the release date of the iPhone 5, but they also expand into hardware predictions, and now, more recently, camera specs. At first the question was whether or not they'd bump the 5 MP camera up to an 8 or 10MP. Now it seems like the question could be if they move the camera up a whole dimension...
Recent rumors have said that Apple won't be releasing the iPhone 5 at WWDC in June. TechCrunch reported that iOS 5's release will be pushed back to the fall, and that we won't see any hardware announcements from Apple this summer.
If this report is true, this year will look very different for Apple. The company's product cycle has always been fairly predictable, but circumstances surrounding the iPhone point to an unusual set of releases this year.
Specifically, consensus seems to be that LTE could be playing a role in Apple's decisions surrounding the next iPhone...
A series of new developments has shed some light on Apple's product roadmap for the coming year. First, we thought that Apple would be holding a media event in April for iOS 5 and MobileMe. TechCrunch followed up on those rumors by saying that iOS 5 would be pushed back to the fall, and that the iPhone 5 would be released this summer running a version of iOS 4.
Today, Apple announced the dates and information for their annual World Wide Develepors Conference this June. Apple's focus for WWDC this year will clearly be on software, and, unless they've got a big surprise up their sleeve, we probably won't see the iPhone 5 launch during the expected time frame...
Well, no one saw that coming. Out of nowhere, AT&T has bought T-Mobile and become the largest wireless provider in the U.S.
It was originally thought that Sprint and T-Mobile would merge, but network incompatibilities made that idea look less and less attractive. Instead, AT&T and T-Mobile have shacked up to become the big kid on the block. Combined, AT&T and T-Mobile account for 130 million wireless customers in the United States, blowing by Verizon's 90 million users.
The question on our mind is: What does this all mean for the iPhone? LTE? What if we actually start getting reception in our own homes...
I think most of us 'round these parts expect the iPhone 5 to be the last triumphant hoorah on 3G networks, but some interesting noise has been coming from the east concerning the likelihood of a 4G enabled iPhone.
China Mobile Communications Corp.’s Chairman, Wang Jianzhou, spoke on the matter by stating that “Jobs has expressed his interest in an LTE iPhone and is willing to start the development at an early date.”
Now to put the puzzle pieces together. Does he mean “early” as in iPhone 5 early? Or “early” as in next year sometime?