iPhone 5 hasn’t hit the market yet and we are already hearing rumors about iPhone 6. The Cell Phone Junkie claims that the next-but-one iPhone will have LTE and be released in 2012.
Almost everyone is unanimous about the iPhone having hardware to support both GSM and CDMA, The Cell Phone Junkie’s Mickey Papillon believes the 6th incarnation of iPhone will in fact be a world phone with added support for LTE.
Now, if the iPhone 5 won’t have LTE, will the iPhone 6? Almost certainly. For the timeline, we look back to Qualcomm. The chipsets used in the iPhone 4 were announced over a year prior to the device’s actual release. So if we think the iPhone 6 is coming in 2012, then we need to keep our eyes on what Qualcomm is doing now. Back in February, Qualcomm unveiled it’s next generation of chipsets, including the MDM9615. This chip will provide enhancements in modem performance, power consumption, board area and BOM expense, exactly what Apple is looking for in its devices. The 9615 will support LTE (FDD and TDD), DC-HSPA+, EV-DO Rev-B and TD-SCDMA.
We cannot believe nor deny his words because his prediction about the chipset Verizon’s iPhone would using turned out to be true a year later when it was announced. We’re also not expecting a chassis redesign for iPhone 5, meaning any real change to the innards could indeed need to wait until iPhone 6 in order to make the hardware’s shape accommodate it.
Timescale is also very reasonable, iPhone 5 coming in fall 2011 and iPhone 6 in 2012. What you think?