Potential iPhone 5/6 & iPad 3 LTE Chip Unveiled By Qualcomm

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Less than a year ago we heard that the technology available at the time in the 4G LTE realm was not on Apple’s liking, which meant that its then-upcoming fourth-generation iPhone would not offer LTE support to the public. We knew the 2011 iOS devices will not support LTE connectivity well ahead of their launch even though we did spot quite a few reports that suggested at least the fifth-generation iPhone will have real 4G support also because 4G LTE deployment was not satisfactory back then.

In the mean time 4G LTE deployment has been significantly increased with Verizon leading the pack in the U.S. followed by AT&T and Sprint. Other worldwide carriers are also working on their own 4G LTE networks, which means Apple should definitely be more interested in launch LTE-friendly iOS devices now that more potential customers have theoretic access to LTE support.

Moreover, the company now has exactly the chip that it requires, the fifth-gen Qualcomm Gobi platform that has been recently announced and which could be used by the company in its upcoming iPad and iPhone models.

The iPad 3 is already said to have LTE support, and if that’s true then it’s probably safe to assume the iPhone 5/6 will also come with 4G LTE capabilities. After all, in the previous years the new iPhone launched after the new iPad has offered almost the same hardware features.

As for the new Qualcomm chip unveiled today, it’s worth mentioning that it sports support for HSPA+, EV-DO, TD-SCDMA, TD-LTE, LTE on FDD and TDD and GPS. In other words it will be the perfect fit for the new iPhone and iPad models but also for various other mobile devices from the competition. The new Gobi platform will support local LTE connectivity and worldwide 3G support, a very useful feature for future smartphones. What’s also interesting is that the chip packs LTE voice support, a feature that could be used by various future LTE smartphones.

Unfortunately Qualcomm has not specifically mentioned iOS among the supported platforms for the upcoming Gobi platform, although it did reveal that future Windows 8 and Android devices will support the technology, without providing any information on the kind of Windows 8 and Android devices that will actually use the technology. What Qualcomm did say is that devices from Huawei, Novatel Wireless, Option, Sierra Wireless and ZTE will be among the first to use the new Gobi chips.

We wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Apple’s iPad 3 will come with a fifth-gen Gobi LTE chip inside even if it was not mentioned in the list above. After all, Apple tries to keep such details secret for as long as possible.