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For the Next iPhone, Size Doesn't Matter, 4G LTE Will Make It An Immediate Hit

This article is more than 10 years old.

A new PCWorld/Macworld survey says that there is pent-up consumer demand for a 4G iPhone that will be fulfilled by the next version of the device due (according to DigiTimes) in September. The two IDG publications questioned readers of both magazines plus mobile users who read neither magazine and found that, "Of the Macworld readers asked, 70 percent say they will buy the new device, with 48 percent of those people saying they will preorder it. Far fewer PCWorld readers--15 percent--are already sold on the device. But almost 40 percent of mobile users who read neither PCWorld nor Macworld say they too will buy the iPhone 5."

LTE was the feature most cited as the motivation for upgrade. And now that AT&T is offering 4G LTE service, consumers will not have to switch carriers to get the faster connection. [PCWorld also reports that, "A recent PCWorld study showed that AT&T's new LTE service, while now in far fewer places than Verizon's, is the fastest in the land."]

There has been a lot of speculation over whether the next iPhone will have a different form factor and a larger, 4 inch screen. I still think the larger screen is inevitable, whether because it better enables personal cinema or better accommodates a 4G radio and/or larger battery or for other reasons associated with emerging design patterns for Apple's entire product line that I will post about shortly. One comment on one of my previous posts suggested that smaller, less power-hungry LTE chipsets (Qualcomm's MDM9615) would be available in the middle of this year, which would make a 4G iPhone possible within the existing form factor. But even if the larger screen turns out to have been a head fake—this time—it is the LTE capability that will assure that the next iPhone is Apple's next sales record.

This optimism is supported by PCWorld's assertion that, "The carriers and the analysts have been pleasantly surprised by strong sales of the iPhone 4S, which disappointed many by not coming with a 4G radio inside. If the not-very-revolutionary iPhone 4S can do so well with consumers, the reasoning goes, the LTE-equiped iPhone 5 should sell even better." 4G LTE seems to be a lock and now it's just a question of how much icing Apple will put on the cake.

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