No New WiMAX Smartphones at Sprint

Wireless carrier Sprint will not add to its offering new handsets that include support for the WiMAX technology.

The company confirmed this last week during the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Instead, Sprint will be focused on expanding its LTE lineup, according to Sprint's VP of Product Realization, David Owens, cited by PCMag.

Last year, the wireless carrier confirmed plans to launch an LTE network in the United States. Previously, the company provided users with 4G services based on the WiMAX technology.

Sprint was the first wireless operator in the United States to offer 4G speeds to its users, but the technology it used failed to pick up steam.

Other wireless carriers adopted LTE instead, and mobile phone makers did the same. Last year, Sprint too decided that WiMAX was doomed and unveiled plans to move to LTE.

Although no new handset featuring the technology will be released at Sprint, the carrier will certainly continue to offer support for those devices that have already been made available on its network.

When it comes to LTE, Sprint is expected to deploy its network quite fast, being capable of completing the rollout by the end of next year.

The wireless carrier has yet to make the network and devices that support it available in the country. It will do so in the next few months.

Among the first handsets that Sprint will launch with LTE on board, we can count the Galaxy Nexus from Samsung. Other Android-powered LTE handsets will follow.

Although the first LTE-enabled Windows Phones have already been launched, Sprint will not add one to its airwaves in the near future.

Windows Phones are already available on Sprint’s network, though none with LTE capabilities. At CES, the carrier confirmed that there would be no new smartphones powered by Microsoft’s OS in the near future.

We should expect for an announcement on the matter to be made sometime in August-September, but specific info on what will be unveiled then lack at the moment.