There are a couple of conflicting stories this weekend about wether or not Apple's upcoming iPhone 5 -- which could be set for launch on October 7 -- will have 4G LTE wireless networking built in.
BGR claims to have caught a glimpse at a plist file (preferences list) from an iPhone carrier that shows some interesting LTE info:
It's not the wink-wink, nudge-nudge controlled leak we've come to expect from The Wall Street Journal, but according to their supply chain sources "familiar with the situation", iPhone 5 might indeed have a new casing:
According to some suppliers of components to Apple, the new version of the iPhone is expected to be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4 and sport an 8-megapixel camera. One person said the new iPhone will operate on Qualcomm Inc.'s wireless baseband chips.
Mickey Papillon nailed the Verizon iPhone and the chipset it would be using a year before it was announced, so when he says LTE just might be coming to iPhone 6 in 2012 via the Qualcomm MDM9615, we're going to pay attention.
Continuing our policy on having fun with iPhone 5 date rumors, TiPb is once again adding an analyst to our iPhone 5 release pool. This time it's Concord Securities as reported by Apple Insider:
Instead of releasing separate iPad 2 models for AT&T/GSM and Verizon/CDMA, why doesn't Apple just use that new Qualcomm dual-mode chipset and support both GSM and CDMA on one device? That way users could not only swap microSIMs and move between different GSM/HSPA networks when they travel abroad, they could switch between AT&T and Verizon's CDMA/EVDO networks when at home. (For an explanation of what all those terms mean see TiPb's data and wireless networking glossary.)
The iPad 2 is almost certainly coming this spring and the rumors just won't stop! Will it or won't it have a Retina Display, will there be a Verizon model or a combo model, will it have a bunch of new ports? And most importantly -- will it be smaller and lighter with less bezel?! Those are the questions we're getting asked the most often these days and they're the topic for today's episode of TiPb TV!
Italian hacker Zibri went digging through iTunes and turned up some more hints that Apple just might be going with Qualcomm's hybrid GSM/CDMA hybrid chipset for iPhone 5.
In the picture above you see a "chunk" of code from the latest iTunes. Maybe, for the most of you, names like "partition.mbn" or "AMSS.MBN" means little or nothing. For me and a few others that means only one thing: QUALCOMM. Those files are the building blocks of any Qualcomm baseband.
Apple might create a dual mode CDMA/GSM iPhone 5 based on Qualcomm chipset in 2011 and push LTE 4G support into 2012 and iPhone 6 according to TechCrunch contributor Steve Cheney:
First things first — the iPhone CDMA model due in January won’t support LTE. But here’s where it gets really interesting: sources tell me that the iPhone refresh in mid-2011 won’t support LTE either. Instead, 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.
Qualcomm, which makes both the CDMA chipsets used by Verizon and Sprint, and a new hybrid GSM/CDMA chip that could be used on all 4 US networks, is looking for a little iPhone-related help:
"The iPhone has no secret for you?" the job listing posted earlier this month reads. "Well, that's what you think... join us and develop the most challenging product of your life!"
The listing has since been pulled but in today's Google-cached world, there's no taking it back. Rumors of a Verizon iPhone have been getting stronger lately as well.
According to TheStreet.com, Apple has struck a deal with San Diego based chip maker, Qualcomm, to supply the EV-DO chip for the rumored Verizon CDMA iPhone. Apple originally showed interest in a chip that would combine both wireless technologies, GSM and CDMA, to make it a world phone but then settled for CDMA when Qualcomm and other chip manufactures could not pull it off.
