Apple has never acknowledged that a device known as the iPhone 5 is being manufactured in their plants, nor has it announced that it is going to bring out a successor to the iPhone 4S. But speculations have been rife about how the new iPhone will be, what the new features will be, how the external appearance will be, etc. The newest rumors on the block are that the iPhone 5 will use nano sim cards as opposed to the micro sim cards we are currently using. Also, the new iPhone will be 4G LTE compatible to compete with the Android smartphones compatible with 4G technology.
Carriers Stocking Up on Nano Sim Cards
It has been noted that all the major carriers have been piling up on their stocks of nano sim cards due to the supposed impending release of the new iPhone. Although some of the rival companies to Apple have submitted different designs for the nano sim cards, Apple has been issuing free licenses for its own design without any royalty.
Sources from carrier network companies have reported that Apple is providing adapters for the nano sim cards to its carrier partners, to help them in testing its performance. This is a typical Apple move, which is ensuring that the performance is up to scratch before releasing it on a larger scale.
Struggle with iPhone 4 and iPad
When the iPhone 4 and the iPad were released, the devices were capable of using only the micro sim cards. This meant that carriers had to increase their supply of micro sim cards for every iPhone or iPad sold. Both the gadgets were instant hits and there was a high demand for these micro sim cards. The suppliers were however, unable to meet with the demand and this caused a lot of inconvenience. Carrier partners seem to have learnt from their past mistake and are making sure that it won’t happen again.
4G LTE Capability
A look into some statistics will reveal how important 4G LTE capability will be beneficial to the iPhone 5. Verizon reported that they sold nearly 2.9 million Android devices and 2.7 million iPhone devices. Out of the 2.9 million Android devices, 2.5 million were capable of 4G LTE. This clearly points out that some consumers are not buying the iPhone because it does not come with 4G LTE capabilities. If it had, the company analysts say that the number of iPhone devices sold would have been significantly higher.
Apple Incorporating Partner Carriers’ Feedback
Like Verizon, even the other partner carriers for the iPhone have pointed out that 4G LTE capability was one of the major concerns for the iPhone. Since the new iPhone will supposedly include this particular feature, the stage is all set for a showdown between two mobile giants, Google and Apple. The scales seem to be tilting in the favor of Apple but today’s market is so unpredictable that no one can predict an upcoming trend with a degree of certainty.
