iOS 5 Reveals Evidence Confirming Apple Is Testing LTE iOS Devices

We reported last week that Apple has been found testing 4G LTE technology for next generation iPhones with certain carriers. Many believed these carriers are most likely Verizon and AT&T since both of them already have LTE capability, a wireless broadband network way faster than 3G. Also just recently, a picture of LTE equipment installed by AT&T personnel inside a U.S Apple Store was leaked all over the web. But now, even more evidence has emerged regarding Apple’s LTE devices field-testing as MacRumors uncovers an LTE.plist file, found initially by BGR, in last couple of iOs 5 beta builds.

The following image shows LTE.plist file which was extracted from iPhone 4 GSM and CDMA iPad 2 and is linked to Apple’s internal “Fieldtest” application.

However, MacRumors suggests that despite all these LTE filed-testing evidences, Apple is unlikely to introduce this technology as early as October in iPhone 5.

The reason LTE is unlikely to arrive, however, in the 2012 iPhone is based on comments by Apple’s Tim Cook about the state of LTE chipsets earlier this year. Cook said that the first generation of LTE chipsets forced a lot of design compromises, and Apple was unwilling to make those compromises. Those compromises likely referred to the high power requirements of current generation LTE chipsets that can result in very short battery life for mobile phones.

Assuming Apple does announce 4G LTE supported iOS devices early next year, which carrier network in Canada do you think will get it first?

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