Amid iPhone 5 rumors, a prominent analyst believes iPhone 5 "will be Apple's first phone to support LTE," also known as 4G, via a two-chip modem. The analyst does not specify when he believes Apple will ship this device, but does reaffirm rumors of a CDMA-based iPhone 4 on Verizon’s network, as well as those of a 7-inch iPad.Ashok Kumar, managing director and analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, says that Qualcomm is the likely the chip supplier for both a future CDMA iPhone using Verizon’s network, and the next-generation iPhone 5.
"We believe the company has selected Qualcomm as its modem supplier for the CDMA iPhone as well as for the iPhone 5," Kumar said in an interview.
"The iPhone 5 will likely use a two-chip modem, allowing the company to create 3G and 4G products," the analyst added, according to a
post by Brooke Crothers of Cnet’s nanotech: the circuits blog.
"Switching suppliers for something as critical as a baseband (3G/4G) modem is a very complex and time-consuming task," Kumar said.
In a note issued to clients earlier this week, Kumar
wrote that Apple was expected to release a second-generation iPad with a 7-inch display, as well as dual cameras that would support Apple’s FaceTime feature.
The next-generation tablet is expected to drop in early 2011, according to Kumar, which shares this prediction with many other tech-industry analysts.
Earlier this month, a report quoting a person with proven knowledge of Apple's future product plans revealed that a revamped iPad was about to launch in the coming months.
The move, if proven true, would mark a departure from Apple’s 12 month product cycle for iOS device refreshes.
The source claimed to have learned from this person that a new version of the tablet device with a built-in video camera had already progressed to advanced testing stages.
This person specifically noted that the tablet was FaceTime-capable, and that it would see the light of day no later than the first quarter of fiscal 2011.
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