During its earnings conference call, Apple re-confirmed it is not adopting the current generation of LTE chipsets in its iPhone handsets. According to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, Apple would have to redesign the iPhone to accommodate the first generation LTE chipsets used in smartphones such as the Verizon Wireless’ HTC Thunderbolt. Apple is not willing to make that concession at this point and will wait for future generation LTE hardware before it adopts this 4G technology.
For iPhone fans, this means an LTE-enabled smartphone from Apple is at least a generation away. The iPhone 5 may hit this year, but it will support current 3G technology and possibly the 4G HSPA+ technology that AT&T is rolling out on its network. Folks looking forward to downloading full-length HD movies in one minute will likely have to wait until 2012 for this high-speed connectivity to land on their iPhone.
Apple confirms LTE iPhone is at least one generation away originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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