New Job Listing Adds to iPhone LTE Evidence

[Phillip Swanson]

Two weeks ago the thought of a new iPhone sporting LTE innards was a distant possibility right behind an iPhone cheese grater. Fast forward to today, and a series of reports has thrown the possibility of an LTE iPhone 5 to forefront of the rumor mill.

The most recent discovery comes from Forbes, who happened to spot a new Apple job listing on LinkedIn of all places. The job listing is for Field Test Engineers with LTE and UMTS experience. In case you were wondering what field testing is, Forbes sums it up nicely as "taking a new cellphone outdoors and measuring its signal strength."

However, iPhone 5 LTE enthusiasts should temper their expectations. Apple's development cycle is traditionally very long and thorough with testing spanning a one to two-year period. Also, Verizon is the only carrier in the U.S. with an even halfway decent LTE network, and even then it only covers half the country and barely any of Apple's major markets.

LTE will come to iPhones eventually, but betting on it being unveiled this fall seems to be wishful thinking at this point.

Source: Forbes

[Daerid]

I think I will be waiting a generation, and passing this next release.

[eightyk88]

It's growing fast!

[jwil736]

As long as 4g wasn't the only selling point of the new iPhone, I would still buy it. I don't think the next gen iPhone will be 4g because apple prides themselves in perfection (exception MobileMe fail) or close to. With LTE just kicking off, I believe they will wait for the tech to mature into larger coverage and be able to reach most of the consumers.
Either way you cut it, next gen iPhone HAS to be a huge update. The iPhone 4 barely cut it in terms of being competitive and is now lacking behind competition.

[thevmax]

I'm still waiting for them to improve PHONE RECEPTION !!!!

[AKCHRIS]

I'd have to Agree. I'm not going to get a New iPhone if it's Not LTE Capable. Why pay 4G prices for a 3G phone. As fas as aesthetics is concern iDC WHAT it looks as long as it's 4G capable. If not..you'll can keep the iPhone4(S); CAUSE i'll opt for iOS5.

[Ins0mniac]

There is so much misconception surrounding LTE. It's great technology for sure, but few carriers in the US are actually providing proper 4G. More like 3.5G. And your phone might use LTE, but if lots of people are sharing the bandwidth, and there aren't enough towers, you still get congestion which causes download speeds to drop dramatically. In addition T-Mobile (and I think Sprint) are just providing HSPA+ (usually around 14.4mbps with up to dual band 28.8 mbps) and calling it 4G!

In Australia our main carrier Telstra already provides HSPA+ (which they have cranked up to 96mbps in trials) but they are honest enough to still call it 3G. They are trialling real LTE which is expected to replace their HSPA+ network over the next decade.

So just because a phone is labeled 4G, that doesn't mean you're necessarily getting LTE. And even if you are, at this stage there ia bugger all coverage in the US (or anywhere else for that matter) plus it's a massive battery drainer.

Personally I'd rather they stuck to 3G until the need for 4G is high enough. At the moment there are many more things I want to see improved on the iPhone 5 before 4G.

[delusion950]

I dont know about LTE but i like this prototype

[reanimationxp]

Oh look it's the "clear iPhone that will never exist" picture again.

[maddawg05]

I'm not sure how 4G technology is other than the US but Apple's prob thinking along the lines of internationally and not just US capabilities
(I would at least assume). I think it is possibility but not holding my breathe.

[mkblade]

personally i dont care if they implement 4G as long as their is an option in Settings which allows you to turn on/off 4G like we can with 3G

Besides, it can be a reality since according to ATT Wireless:
"LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a wireless broadband technology designed to support mobile Internet access via cell phones and handheld devices. LTE is sometimes called 4G, or fourth generation, technology. AT&T began trials of LTE in 2010 and we plan to launch LTE commercially in 2011. When it's available*, any of your AT&T LTE-upgradable devices will be able to connect to LTE after performing a simple software upgrade."

So Apple may implement the necessary hardware and their when all carriers seem ready, offer a simple OTA iOS update to "enable" the feature....just my .02

[Mrteacup]

You don't have to add a random photo to every article..

[sziklassy]

So long as the data plan doesn't get worse than it already is (price-wise) I am ok with 4G. I had Sprint for a good while and never used the 4G (well ok, I tethered for online games with 4G twice when the net was down). Outside of latency I see no benefits in 4G data. Everything already loads fast enough for me.

In addition T-Mobile (and I think Sprint) are just providing HSPA+ (usually around 14.4mbps with up to dual band 28.8 mbps) and calling it 4G!

Sprint is CDMA. TMO (in the US) is using HSPA+. Supposedly AT&T will be doing a mic of LTE and HSPA+ but only calling LTE their 4G zones.

[c0deName_ZERO]

So long as the data plan doesn't get worse than it already is (price-wise) I am ok with 4G. I had Sprint for a good while and never used the 4G (well ok, I tethered for online games with 4G twice when the net was down). Outside of latency I see no benefits in 4G data. Everything already loads fast enough for me.



Sprint is CDMA. TMO (in the US) is using HSPA+. Supposedly AT&T will be doing a mic of LTE and HSPA+ but only calling LTE their 4G zones.

How???????????