Verizon is going to begin selling LTE-capable handsets by the middle of 2011, possibly as early as February. Will one of those devices be an LTE iPhone? That's what a report from MacDailyNews is claiming today. According to a source that they "believe to be familiar with the matter," VZW held management training for the iPhone last week and the device will be announced after Christmas, with availability kicking off right after. The device is said to be fully compatible with Verizon's LTE network, but will also have a chip that is compatible with CDMA networks when the user is out of range of a 4G signal. Additionally, the source claims that the iPhone 5 was originally planned to be LTE-only, but no one thinks that Verizon or AT&T will have enough coverage for an LTE-only iPhone to make sense.
Verizon is planning to light up new markets with LTE every month, but AT&T won't be implementing any sort of 4G coverage until at least the middle of the year, meaning it's highly unlikely that Apple ever planned on an LTE-only iPhone. Will the VZW iPhone have LTE and CDMA support, though? Probably not. Verizon's LTE network is still in its infancy, and there have been several reports of problems with the modems having a hard time making the transition from EV-DO to LTE. Plus, we all know that Apple isn't exactly quick to adopt new technologies, evidenced by the fact that the original iPhone shipped without any sort of 3G support. Still, this news makes for some interesting conversation. When do you all think that we'll see an LTE iPhone launch?
Via MacRumors, MacNewsDaily
