LTE iPhone pushed to 2012; China Mobile may get iPhone in September
Apple had originally planned a 2011 release for an LTE-capable iPhone, but has pushed back its timeline for the device because of production constraints, according to a new report out of the Far East. Meanwhile, sources indicate that China Mobile will likely begin selling Apple's next-generation iPhone later this year.
According to DigiTimes, industry sources said that "problems concerning yield rates of LTE chips offered by Qualcomm" have reportedly forced Apple to delay a planned upgrade of the iPhone to support 4G LTE networks.
"Apple is likely to delay the launch of its LTE-enabled iPhones to 2012, said the sources, noting that the industry had also long been skeptical about the launch of LTE iPhones in 2011 as the implementation of LTE networks has not yet matured," the report noted.
Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told investors last month that the company was unwilling to go with early LTE chipsets. "The first generation of LTE chipsets force a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those we are just not willing to make," he said during the company's earnings call for the second quarter of fiscal 2011.
Executives from both China Mobile and Verizon have indicated that Apple has expressed interest in LTE, though they were unable to reveal specific timing. "You'll see more coming from Apple on LTE," Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel Mead said in February, shortly after the launch of the Verizon iPhone 4. "They understand the value proposition of LTE and I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it."
China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said in March that Apple CEO Steve Jobs "has expressed his interest in an LTE iPhone and is willing to start the development at an early date."
According to DigiTimes, China Mobile, which operates the world's largest mobile network with over 600 million subscribers, "is expected to reach an agreement with Apple to sell iPhone 4S smartphones in China in September at the earliest."
Apple has yet to truly tap the Chinese mobile market, though it has be "on a tear" in the country. According to Cook, iPhone sales in Greater China grew by almost 250 percent year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2011.
Given China Mobile's size, Apple will need to partner with the carrier in order to continue to expand in the world's most populous nation. Cook said in April that Apple is "constantly looking at where we should bring on incremental partners," while admitting that the company's iPhone focus has been on China.
Jeffries & Co. analyst Peter Misek suggested last week that Apple will release a new iPhone this September, instead of during the summer as in years past. China Mobile, Sprint and T-Mobile are expected to be added as carriers.
Analyst Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities said last month that Chinese sources had indicated the next-generation iPhone is on track to launch in October of this year.
China Unicom has been Apple's exclusive partner in China since the launch of the iPhone 3GS in 2009. Reports emerged in February that Apple's CDMA iPhone 4 will see a limited launch on the third-place China Telecom network in June.
According to DigiTimes, industry sources said that "problems concerning yield rates of LTE chips offered by Qualcomm" have reportedly forced Apple to delay a planned upgrade of the iPhone to support 4G LTE networks.
"Apple is likely to delay the launch of its LTE-enabled iPhones to 2012, said the sources, noting that the industry had also long been skeptical about the launch of LTE iPhones in 2011 as the implementation of LTE networks has not yet matured," the report noted.
Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook told investors last month that the company was unwilling to go with early LTE chipsets. "The first generation of LTE chipsets force a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those we are just not willing to make," he said during the company's earnings call for the second quarter of fiscal 2011.
Executives from both China Mobile and Verizon have indicated that Apple has expressed interest in LTE, though they were unable to reveal specific timing. "You'll see more coming from Apple on LTE," Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel Mead said in February, shortly after the launch of the Verizon iPhone 4. "They understand the value proposition of LTE and I feel very confident that they are going to be a part of it."
China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said in March that Apple CEO Steve Jobs "has expressed his interest in an LTE iPhone and is willing to start the development at an early date."
According to DigiTimes, China Mobile, which operates the world's largest mobile network with over 600 million subscribers, "is expected to reach an agreement with Apple to sell iPhone 4S smartphones in China in September at the earliest."
Apple has yet to truly tap the Chinese mobile market, though it has be "on a tear" in the country. According to Cook, iPhone sales in Greater China grew by almost 250 percent year over year in the second quarter of fiscal 2011.
Given China Mobile's size, Apple will need to partner with the carrier in order to continue to expand in the world's most populous nation. Cook said in April that Apple is "constantly looking at where we should bring on incremental partners," while admitting that the company's iPhone focus has been on China.
Jeffries & Co. analyst Peter Misek suggested last week that Apple will release a new iPhone this September, instead of during the summer as in years past. China Mobile, Sprint and T-Mobile are expected to be added as carriers.
Analyst Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities said last month that Chinese sources had indicated the next-generation iPhone is on track to launch in October of this year.
China Unicom has been Apple's exclusive partner in China since the launch of the iPhone 3GS in 2009. Reports emerged in February that Apple's CDMA iPhone 4 will see a limited launch on the third-place China Telecom network in June.
Comments
so off to ATT i go to order the white HOT model.. first post hah
[...] the Far East. [...]
crikey, every time i read that i think that it's 1807 and i'm on a british royal navy vessel.
you guys seem to enjoy using the term; wikipedia says "The term is no longer commonly used, as it connotes the "orientalism" of the 19th century as described by Edward Said."
LTE infrastructures just don't exist and won't exist for some years in the vast majority of Apple's key markets. Here in the UK, it will be several years and I suspect it will be many, many more before the US has non-urban coverage.
If Apple could get hold of LTE components as cheaply and, crucially, as readily as they can get hold of current radios and the LTE radios can be as power-efficient when not using LTE speeds then sure there's no reason not to include that tick on their spec sheet. However, I suspect those criteria aren't yet met and so I don't expect LTE in the next iPhone.
Apple are ruthless about only including what makes sense, and in 2011 LTE does not make sense.
crikey, every time i read that i think that it's 1807 and i'm on a british royal navy vessel.
you guys seem to enjoy using the term; wikipedia says "The term is no longer commonly used, as it connotes the "orientalism" of the 19th century as described by Edward Said."
The term is regularly used without any derogatory connotation in Britain. I'll be sure to think of British naval vessels next time Obama mentions the middle-east, or is that different somehow?
It's ironic you choose 1807, the year Britain became the first nation in the world to outlaw slavery but let's leave politics out of the forums eh?
crikey, every time i read that i think that it's 1807 and i'm on a british royal navy vessel.
you guys seem to enjoy using the term; wikipedia says "The term is no longer commonly used, as it connotes the "orientalism" of the 19th century as described by Edward Said."
Maybe I'm still hankering after the Empire, but the 'Far East' is still a pretty commonly used term in the UK for SE Asia. Wikipædia isn't always correct, you know...
Maybe I'm still hankering after the Empire, but the 'Far East' is still a pretty commonly used term in the UK for SE Asia. Wikipædia isn't always correct, you know...
It's certainly more modern the 'The Orient'.
Maybe I'm still hankering after the Empire, but the 'Far East' is still a pretty commonly used term in the UK for SE Asia. Wikipædia isn't always correct, you know...
*GASP* Wikipedia might be wrong!??!
I think what we are talking about here is colloquialisms. Just because the term Far East isn't prevalent in the US doesn't mean it is not used elsewhere in the world. Let's be a little more open-minded here folks...
I'm with Gollum on this one: "You can keep your nasty chips!"
Maybe I'm still hankering after the Empire, but the 'Far East' is still a pretty commonly used term in the UK for SE Asia. Wikipædia isn't always correct, you know...
The international financial press use the term Far East.
I think we are hearing the term less because people are talking about it less, as China becomes the big story versus the asian tigers plus Japan.
Several apps on my iPhone are large, or contain large data files, chewing up valuable multimedia space.
It is time for a 64GB iPhone.
crikey, every time i read that i think that it's 1807 and i'm on a british royal navy vessel.
you guys seem to enjoy using the term; wikipedia says "The term is no longer commonly used, as it connotes the "orientalism" of the 19th century as described by Edward Said."
I’m curious why you feel it’s wrong to use that term? Is it because the world is spherical and you can get there by traveling far to the West, too (at least from my current location)?
If that is the case I’d counter that argument with Japan calling itself Nippon which literally means "land where the sun rises or originates” yet we know that isn’t factual. Also consider the term Orient. Not the root of the word and the aforementioned information about the rising sun which was the initial way people would orientate themselves their surroundings during the day before the compass.
These terms weren’t arbitrarily created nor do I think it’s fair that some should be forced out of existence whilst others are allowed to live on simply because it sounds weird to some. If the writer does not intend it to be pejorative then I see no problem with its usage.
I also think this represent the perfect opportunity for Apple to expand their iPhone line:
* maintain a 3G (GSM/CDMA) "world" phone (continuing the current iPhone trajectory)
* introduce a new model (iPhone Pro???) that includes LTE support and perhaps additional hardware features (like NFC, perhaps more storage, thunderbolt port ???)
This way they're expanding up and not down (like the stripped-down iPhone "nano" some seem to want). I think this is more in keeping with Apple's philosophy too. Smartphones are becoming more and more popular, a trend that will only continue. While the market for simple "feature phones" may be large today, I think Apple sees it as a shrinking market.
All the manufacturing infrastructure and hardware/software design and ecosystem is already in place for the current iPhone, not to mention manufacturing. All of these pieces are enormously expensive pieces of the puzzle and I don't see Apple spending all the time and money to design, develop, manufacture and market a cheap phone. Plus it works against their image as a "premium" brand.
If they can continue to produce the current (and future versions) of the iPhone we now know and bring manufacturing costs down, they may even drop the price at the same time they unveil a new "iPhone Pro" model. This also gives iPhone owners in countries with good LTE infrastructure a reason to upgrade, while not excluding vast swaths of the world's population or building a single all-encompassing (read: expensive and difficult to manufacture due to all the additional components and features that will continue to be added, many of which may not even be useable for the majority of users (NFC, for example. May be big in Europe and gaining steam in US, but what about India or China or South America?)).
The logical progression would be an iPhone with HSPA+. This technology is well deployed on this planet, and even exists here in the USA (which is the laggard amongst industrialized nations concerning cellular technology). Some markets are actually in their 2nd or 3rd iteration of HSPA+.
LTE is one of those pieces of technology a bit like AMOLED screens. The public might think it's newer and better and so manufacturers will add it to their devices before it becomes worthwhile in the real world. It's not Apple's style to give in to that.
Exactly.
Also in the case of LTE, if they include it, a fair chunk of the public will assume they can use it. But they can't because the networks aren't there. So then they cry foul, false advertising etc. Or even if they can use it, it eats up battery etc and they cry foul. Too much negative PR to be worth it.
Q: Will LTE finally homogenize all cell carriers' services meaning an LTE phone will work with any carrier or will there still be Verizon LTE phones, AT&T LTEs, etc.?
Yes. And No. Because until LTE networks are perfected the phones will have to fall back on something else. Just like 3g falls back on 'edge'. And that will be different.
So while LTE has the potential to homogenize carriers it won't really happen for a good 3-4 years
A third iPhone radio type for China Moble? There website lists over 600,000,000 subscribers growing at over 5,000,000 per month. 3G data users are few but they are growing. I say do it.
I’m curious why you feel it’s wrong to use that term? Is it because the world is spherical and you can get there by traveling far to the West, too (at least from my current location)?
If that is the case I’d counter that argument with Japan calling itself Nippon which literally means "land where the sun rises or originates” yet we know that isn’t factual. Also consider the term Orient. Not the root of the word and the aforementioned information about the rising sun which was the initial way people would orientate themselves their surroundings during the day before the compass.
These terms weren’t arbitrarily created nor do I think it’s fair that some should be forced out of existence whilst others are allowed to live on simply because it sounds weird to some. If the writer does not intend it to be pejorative then I see no problem with its usage.
The use of "Orient" dates back to Roman times where the cardinal points of reference were Orient (oriens - east, in addition the "Levante" winds), Occident (occidens - west, in addition the "Ponente" winds), Australent/Austral (australens - south in addition the "Ostro" winds), and Borealent/Boreal (borealens - north, in addition the "Tramontane" winds), The ordinal or secondary reference points NE, SE, SW, NW also incorporate the Gregale, Sirocco, Libeccio and Mistral winds, respectively. Lastly, dating from the late renaissance the additional sub-ordinal points were added to create a compass rose that had 32 reference points as follows N,NNE, NE, ENE, E, ESE, SE, SSE, S, SSW, SW, WSW, W, WNW, NW, NNW. A Wind Rose also names the "four winds" associated with these cardinal reference points based on Greek mythology: Boreas the north wind, Eurus the east wind, Notus the south wind, and Zephyr the west wind.
It is from these direction labels that we get the common "Orient" and related terms, oriented, orientation, disoriented, etc. "Orientated" is a bastard term recently accepted in American dictionaries due to common misuse. In correct usage you can be oriented, but not orientated elswhere, but in the US you can be orientated as much as you please.
Q: Will LTE finally homogenize all cell carriers' services meaning an LTE phone will work with any carrier or will there still be Verizon LTE phones, AT&T LTEs, etc.?
It depends on the handset manufacturer and which chipsets they utilize in any given handset.
While there may be chipsets that cover CDMA, GSM, UTMS, LTE, etc. there will probably be less expensive chipsets that cover fewer network technologies. It is likely that handset manufacturers will continue to use cheaper chipsets in less expensive handsets that don't have multi-network capabilities in the same way that inexpensive AT&T and T-Mobile USA dumbphones purchased here in the USA often won't work abroad because they don't have quad-band GSM, just dual-band for North America.