It’s clear by now that LTE has won the 4G tech race, with even those carriers that initially looked to other stopgap “4G” technologies starting to come around. As such, it’s no surprise that we’re seeing more and more smartphones and tablets come out with LTE support. Verizon recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal about its aspirations for continuing LTE deployment, and making sure its customers have access to the latest LTE phones. In doing so, it may have just confirmed LTE support for the next iPhone.

In order to give subscribers as many high-speed data option as possible, Verizon has committed to only releasing smartphones capable of LTE from this point out; that’s not to say that Verizon’s 3G coverage is going anywhere, just that your only options will be LTE phones, whether you get LTE reception or not.

Though it took Verizon a little while to get into the iPhone game, now that it’s here we don’t expect it to go away anytime soon. Now, if a carrier’s going to make exceptions to its own rules for anyone, it’s likely to be Apple, but there’s certainly a strong implication here that Verizon is expecting that next iPhone to have an LTE radio.

Considering Apple’s already dipped its toe into the LTE waters with the announcement of the iPad 2012, the idea of an LTE iPhone sounds more than plausible. Right now, the question seems less like if it will have LTE, and more to do with just which carrier’s networks will be supported.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Via: Into Mobile