“Guggenheim Securities’s Shing Yin this morning contemplates the question of why Apple has not produced a version of its iPhone running the faster 4G ‘Long Term Evolution,’ or LTE, cellular networking standard,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
“As Yin points out, many think Verizon is at a disadvantage because AT&T’s non-LTE, ‘GSM’ version of the iPhone ‘actually runs faster on AT&T’s HSPA+ network than on Verizon’s EV-DO network,'” Ray reports. “Yin writes Verizon seems to be happy with this situation, because the LTE phones it does have, running Google’s ‘Android’ operating system, are cheaper to sell to customers than are the heavily subsidized iPhone.”
We believe Apple may have decided not to release an LTE iPhone last year in part because it did not want to cede any leverage to Verizon, which had the clear lead in LTE deployment. We think Apple preferred to see AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all offer essentially the same iPhone, so that it maximizes the role of the device (rather than the network) in consumers’ purchasing decisions. With AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all expecting to have a reasonable amount of LTE coverage by the end of this year, we think Apple is likely to be more open to offering an LTE iPhone… we would not be surprised to see an LTE iPhone introduced sooner rather than later, perhaps at Apple’s WWDC event in early summer. In our view, an LTE iPhone would likely drive postpaid subsidy expense higher, especially at Verizon. – Guggenheim Securities analyst Shing Yin.
Read more in the full article here.
Yes, despite having over a hundred carriers, Apple only cares about how AT&T looks.
I thought the rumor was that the early LTE radios in phones eat up too much battery.
Thats not exactly a rumor – the early & current crop of LTE phones have god awfull battery life unless plugged into a power socket 24/7.
So, you are saying it wasn’t because the (so called) 4G chips at the time were too big and too power hungry?
yep, it’s the battery power issue more than anything else. Gosh analysts come up with so many different theories when it comes to anything Apple.
Baloney.
LTE does not exist anywhere but the USA. Europe is not rolling out this tech anytime soon. Neither will China. These cretins of WS are juts continuing their games of trying to box in Apple not the other way around. Now that they see their apple-killer, the jave phones, drop by the wayside they are trying to make apple the bad guy.
Baloney.
South Korea rolled out LTE service over much of the country last fall. Currently Korean telcoms are relentless hyping their Samsung and LG are LTE phones, to snare the expensive data packages.
The current generation of LTE chips require a chest-mounted, Stark Industries reactor to service battery drain. Apple will provide LTE f(x) when either chip or battery technology enable a customer satisfying experience.
If so, Verizon deserves it.
Ya, this is BS.
By not providing LTE, Apple gave the advantage to AT&T with HSPA+ which is much faster than Verizon’s 3G.
That would be a silly game to play anyway…Apple is all about providing the best experience possible, so if that went to Verizon, so be it. It wouldn’t cost Apple anything to give them that advantage.
On the other hand, LTE wasn’t (isn’t) ready yet. There’s added cost, battery drain, and limited availability. That’s the reason.
What complete crap. Why do analysts like these still have jobs?
Facts:
1. Tim Cook said that first-gen chipsets were power-hungry, and would have forced them to make design compromises they didn’t want to make with the iPhone.
2. Most reviews of LTE phones report relatively poor battery life.
So why go spreading rumors like this? Typical conspiracy theorists. When the truth isn’t interesting enough, make something up. Somebody will believe it.
If Apple release an iPhone 6 this Fall, with 4G radio, which I’ll upgrade to, then it will be time for its upgrade by the time 4G networks are even starting to to come online in the UK.
The government here hasn’t even held an auction for the network frequencies yet.
The only people getting all moist for this tech are Americans, and, last time I looked, the world rotates around its axis, not America.
NOAA far as I know, I do not see America dictating to you about what network to lay out over in Jolly Ol England. Somewhat hypocritical to say about what relives around what when the UK was claiming the “sun never set on the British empire”
And it continues to be so. No matter what time of day, there will always be some British territory, somewhere in the world, where it will be daylight. With the loss of Hong Kong, the duty for that part of the world fell on Diego Garcia (an island in Indian Ocean). The saying continues to be true, though.
Now if we could only move 0 deg latitude to US,
sorry longitude that is
I live in green bay, wi. An NFL home city, which is Home of the super bowl champions.
4G just barely got introduced here at the very end of last year with crappy coverage.
Why anyone would make a purchasing decision based on that feature is an uniformed moron unless they’ve been living in or are moving to one of the few markets in these 50 states where such coverage is available and widespread.
oh wait, I forgot the main reason why:
The killer giant robots battling for their lives in a hyper-futuristic pugil pit with an infinite moat told me I need it.
Oh, you mean and Verizon droid ad.
Once again: 4G does not exist yet. It is only a target standard at this time. Anyone saying they have ‘4G’ is lying. LTE in its current form is the closest we have. ‘LTE Advanced’, when it is finished, will be actual, no BS, no marketing spin, for real 4G.
Read all about it:
4G @ Wikipedia
I don’t care what they call it, I want it: On the iPhone on Verizon.
Exactly. “This LTE is not the technology you’re looking for”. The LTE that we should all be hot for is LTE-Advanced. They share the same basis, but the world-changing performance comes with LTE-Advanced. Put your mind around 1 Gbps to fixed endpoints (ie AppleTV) and 100 Mbps to endpoints in motion (iPhone on train). Feel the disruption.
This is silly and uninformed nonsense. Europe, where Apple sells plenty of iPhones, has much better LTE networks than Verizon does.
Based on how fast 4G drains Android phone batteries, Apple has (once again) been proven correct in not jumping into the latest, “greatest” data speed technology just because it was available. Heck, even where Verizon is supposed to have 4G (and it shows 4G on the phone), 4G is often not available or very spotty.
4G just isn’t ready for prime time yet, so why should Apple subject it’s customers to a poor experience and expectations?
Re – Android battery drainage , not true ! I bought a Bionic ,
Used it all day while out on errands , web , apps , maps ,
Texts , emails , astonishingly , when I got home , tonite , still had
50% battery life !!! Software update improved battery a lot …..
I have an iPhone 4s also , after using the Bionic , the iPhone seems outdated , though very solid , it just seems outdated , 3G
Or not , both are great devices , but , I have to say , Android definitely made some strides in a year..
I seriously believe , after doing some pretty thorough testing , the
iPhone’s camera is the best feature on it , as far as Siri , being in
Beta still, there been plenty of times when I went to use it , it couldn’t help me , I’m sure it will improve ..
As far as apps , everything I need day in and day out , I have on
The Bionic , , Google navigation, flash , bigger screen , widgets ,
And now , most importantly , much better battery life !!
Bye Bye IPhone
Sorry about your poor experience with iPhone. But as you say, your Bionic rocks. I’m sure millions of other people share your experiences. Most of them don’t have the guts to come to a pro-Apple web site. Good job. Excuse me now while I go to start a worldwide campaign to bring the gospel of Joe to the legions of fools who haven’t yet apprehended the excellence of the Android universe, even though most of them realize that commas aren’t preceded by spaces.
LOL !!!
Thanks Jane ,
No bad experience with iPhone 4s , just limited , I really believe
That both are great products , numbers don’t lie !!
Being a gadget nut , I put the Bionic to the test , and so far it’s
Been awesome , The main thing that kept me away from Android was terrible battery life , this phone was made with a slightly larger battery , And today I was really impressed with its
life , And 4g , WOW !!!! Again, they’re both great , but for me ,
I think Android is the better choice … Sorry for some bad
grammar !!! Joe 🙂 🙂
No worries, Joe. I may start using the isolated comma myself. Easier to read!
Sounds like you are a pro blogger hired by Motorola and/or Google to cruise these sites and try to sell the Droid Bionic device. There must be a name for you guys . . .