We’re well and truly in the middle of iPhone rumor territory these days, and everyone’s an expert it seems. Today’s latest expert to offer claims of knowing what’s going on in Cupertino is Hudson Square Research‘s Todd Rethemeier, who thinks the next iPhone will actually carry the iPhone 5 moniker and not the 4S we’ve been warming to.
Along with an amazing ability to guess model names, Rethemeier also claims that the said iPhone will feature a 4G radio, but only for AT&T’s system – no increased speed for Verizon.
For AT&T iPhone 5 users, this could mean download speeds of 5-10 Mbps, compared to less than 1 Mbps for a Verizon user. Certainly, when an LTE iPhone is introduced AT&T would lose some of its marketing advantage. However, even when that happens, the phone will be backwards compatible, so the AT&T iPhone 6 would be able to roam onto the HSPA+ network when an LTE network is not available, giving AT&T an advantage in suburban and rural areas for several more years, we believe.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rethemeier doesn’t share where he got this information, and simply says this scenario is ‘more likely than not. Right then, that’s confirmation right there.
Rumors of the iPhone 4S/5 have swayed from one extreme to the other over the last few weeks. Some sources claim the next iPhone will be little more than a slight revision to the already super-successful iPhone 4, while others expect a much more altered handset to arrive in stores later this year. Apple are not expected to announce any new iPhone hardware at WWDC next week, with a September timeframe expected to now be accurate for any new iPhone release – a departure from the last four releases.
Instead of new iPhone hardware, WWDC 2011 will play host to three big software show and tells – iOS 5, Mac OS X Lion and Apple’s new iCloud service are all confirmed by Apple to be part of the opening Steve Jobs keynote. Particularly exciting is the introduction of iOS 5 with many of us hoping the update will sport a new notification system amongst other much needed improvements.
(via Barrons)
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