China Mobile Chairman Says Apple is Working on LTE iPhone

Wang Jianzhou, the chairman of China Mobile, declared recently that a future 4G iPhone will support LTE chipsets for a faster wireless network. Speaking at the Davos Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wang said:

Apple has made it clear they will support TD-LTE. We hope that when they develop the next-generation models, since Apple can create CDMA, they can also consider developing TD-SCDMA.

Apple COO Tim Cook recently explained that the reason the iPhone hasn’t already adopted the LTE chipset yet is that the first-generation chips demand changes to the iPhone’s design that Apple weren’t prepared to make. Some speculate that the issue was due to how much battery life the chips consumes, and that the second-generation of LTE chips could be more suitable for Apple’s device.

It’s highly likely that at some point Apple’s iPhone will adopt the LTE chipsets – it doesn’t take insider knowledge to predict that – however, what we’re all eager to know is when. Apple has demonstrated frequently over the years that it’s not always willing to adopt new technology early on. As Cult of Mac points out, the first generation iPhone was already behind the times when it launched with just EDGE support, as opposed to 3G.

The iPhone is currently available in China on just one network, and that’s China Unicom. However, it’s likely that now Apple has launched the CDMA iPhone 4 for Verizon, CDMA networks in China will be offered the hugely popular device.

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