Apple is set to unveil a new iPhone next week, and among the many questions tech-watchers have about the new smartphone is whether the updated device will have 4G LTE speeds.
A China Unicom executive apparently shed a bit more light on that subject this week, saying at a conference that the iPhone 5 would support HSPA+ 21, which some carriers have referred to as 4G. But while HSPA+ is faster than 3G (21Mbps vs. 7.2Mbps), it's not as fast as 4G LTE. As PCMag mobile analyst Sascha Segan pointed out recently, "4G LTE isn't 4G, or HSPA+. The latter's more closely related, technology-wise, to a 3G network," he wrote.
On many an iPhone fan's wish list is an iPhone with 4G LTE speeds. Now that Verizon Wireless and AT&T have started rolling out their LTE networks, and many high-powered 4G smartphones have hit the market, it would also make competitive sense for the iPhone to have those capabilities, right? According to Segan, the lack of 4G LTE in the iPhone at this point likely comes down to aesthetics—current LTE chips are just too bulky.
"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," Segan writes. The slimmer, single-chip LTE solutions that come from Qualcomm won't be out until the third or fourth quarter of next year, he said.
For more, see Why the iPhone 5 Probably Won't Have 4G LTE.
In August, a carrier partner told Boy Genius Report that Apple was testing iPhones with 4G LTE support, but that doesn't mean the technology will be enabled on the iPhone 5. It should be no surprise that Apple is testing a 4G version of its smartphone, but it's not expected to be included in the next-gen iPhone.
For more on network speed in the U.S., see PCMag's Fastest Mobile Networks 2011.
Losing track of all the Apple iPhone 5 rumors? For more, see last week's top rumors, as well as those from the week before. Also check out What the iPhone 5 Might Look Like and Six Amazing Phone Technologies We Want in iPhone 5, as well as the 8 Likely iPhone 5 Rumors, and 2 Wild Ones slideshow below.