14 DAY TRIAL // The rumors on the possibility that Apple might release on the market an iPhone model that would sport CDMA connectivity have been floating around for quite some time now, with newer and newer details being “unveiled” from time to time. Those rumors emerged once again recently, fueled by recent reports that the company manufacturing it, namely Pegatron Technology (ASUStek's OEM manufacturing arm), is set to start shipping the first units to Apple during the fourth quarter of the ongoing year.
According to a recent article on DigiTimes, Pegatron is already working on the manufacturing of the CDMA version of the iPhone 4. The company's plants in Shanghai, China are currently being used to produce the device, sources familiar with its plans stated recently, the news site reports. Moreover, it seems that Pegatron is also aiming at gaining orders for MacBooks and iPads from Apple and that the CDMA iPhone 4 is indeed set to start arriving at Apple during the fourth quarter of the ongoing year.
In case it is real, the CDMA version of the iPhone 4 is expected to arrive in the United States too, on the airwaves of Verizon Wireless (reports on it headed for Sprint, another CDMA carrier, emerged too). Most of the previous rumors on the matter pointed towards such a move as being imminent, though none proved real in the end. Big Red is known for its interest on having Apple's device available for purchase on its network, and previous reports even suggested that the carrier was in talks with Apple for the signing of a deal on the matter.
AT&T has the iPhone on its offering at the moment, though other operators might have it soon too. Apple is expected to make the same distribution move in the US as it did in other markets too, such as the UK, where the iPhone is now available via more wireless services providers. However, at the moment AT&T is the exclusive iPhone carrier in the United States, and it seems that it plans on remaining so. The company has just kicked off the pre-orders for iPhone 4, which were hit by various issues caused by security breaches on its servers.