A CDMA iPhone for Verizon Wireless, a new kind of Apple TV, and a seven-inch iPad. These are some of the rumors about new Apple products that are sprouting around the web like late-summer flowers.
According to various web sites, a key driving force for the reports has been information coming from Asian component suppliers. Taiwan-based Pegatron Technology, for instance, is reportedly preparing for mass production of a CDMA iPhone in December. It would be intended for both Verizon Wireless and China Telecom, and is projected to launch at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, where Verizon’s CEO is scheduled to give the keynote address.
Verizon LTE Ahead of Schedule
According to the reports, Apple has already placed an order for millions of Qualcomm CDMA chips, and the new device will utilize an internally insulated antenna in order to avoid the reception problems that have beset the iPhone 4 when a user’s hand touches the antenna area.
A CDMA-based phone has been rumored for quite a while, noted Current Analysis’ Avi Greengart. However, he said his assumption is that any iPhone Apple develops for Verizon will be based on the carrier’s growing, next-generation LTE technology, not CDMA.
“Apple typically does not create one-off products,” he pointed out, adding that CDMA is an architecture with a very limited life span. Verizon has aggressively been planning and building its next-generation LTE infrastructure, an effort that Greengart noted is ahead of schedule.
“They always planned to start this year,” he said, “but it’s looking like it will be a two-year rollout for LTE rather than four years.” Greengart pointed out that, typically, data cards would precede handsets based on a new transmission technology. “It’s also possible that Apple could release a multimode iPhone,” he said, which would allow the device to be used on both the existing CDMA and the…