The next iPhone is inevitably coming, and to sate the Internet's infinite desire for iPhone speculation, I have been commanded to write about what will be in it.
Obviously, nobody really knows anything about the next iPhone, including whether it will be called the "iPhone 5," although we're all using the term because of search engines. If you'd like to be kept up on the latest rumors, check out our slideshow of iPhone 5 rumors.
But there's one thing I'm pretty sure of: the iPhone 5, or whatever it will be called, won't have 4G LTE. Now, AT&T is going to call it 4G, just you wait. But it won't have LTE.
We're still in the first generation of LTE chipsets, and they're clunky and power-hungry. LTE isn't really integrated with other network technologies yet; it's a separate modem slapped on top of, or next to, an existing chipset, which is why we haven't seen any really slim, elegant LTE phones yet.
Apple has always prioritized slim elegance over network speed, and the company is definitely concerned about battery life. Sticking with a high-speed HSPA network rather than nascent LTE lets Apple keep its phone slender and running all day.
LTE networks are only just getting started in most of the world, anyway. Verizon's LTE network is ahead of the global pack, but AT&T won't have a widespread network until the middle of next year, and carriers in other countries are just ramping up now as well. Mid-2012, not mid-2011, is the sweet spot for launching a mainstream, global LTE smartphone.
AT&T will still get away with calling this phone 4G because it will almost certainly have HSPA 14.4, and perhaps HSPA+ 21. AT&T is the only company on Earth which considers HSPA 14.4 to be 4G, but that hasn't stopped it. Most of the industry now considers HSPA+ 21 to be a form of 4G. It's almost impossible to get a high-end GSM chipset without at least HSPA 14.4 nowadays, so assume that technology comes for free. Apple certainly won't turn it down.
This is going to create an interesting situation: if both Verizon and AT&T get the next iPhone at the same time, AT&T will call theirs "4G," but Verizon won't be able to. That may actually satisfy Apple; AT&T is its original, long-faithful partner, and this leaves AT&T feeling a little bit special. The difference won't much affect the iPhone's major global markets, because most countries use the AT&T version, not the Verizon CDMA device.
We'll have to see when the new iPhone comes out in September, October or 2012.