iPhone 5 Release Date: MacWorld Asia Conference Confirms 4G Coverage?
A China Unicom executive has reportedly confirmed that the iPhone 5 will support 4G capability at the recent MacWorld Asia 2011 conference.
The MacWorld Asia 2011 conference and convention took place from September 23 to 25 at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, China.
There, China Unicom research VP, Huan Wenliang, revealed during the keynote speech, a timeline of Apple iPhones and their data transfer standard, which included the iPhone 5 boasting 4G HSPA+ 21Mbps.
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Within the presentation, each detail was accompanied by a photo of its corresponding iPhone, except for the iPhone 5, which has yet to be unveiled.
It is expected that the iPhone 5 and all of its specs will be revealed on October 4 at the recently confirmed "Let’s talk iPhone" press conference hosted by Apple.
China Unicom is currently the exclusive carrier partner for the iPhone in China.
MacPost reported that China Unicom senior officials met with Apple at its headquarters sometime last month to discuss various logistics about the iPhone 5 such as its compatibility with their homegrown network standard.
From this, commentators have concluded that China Unicom would be knowledgeable about whether or not the iPhone 5 will support 4G and that the confirmation is accurate.
Rumors about whether the iPhone 5 would support 4G have been circling for most of the year.
Little actual detail has been divulged, however, most commentators have expected the smartphone to have 4G capability.
Recently, JP Morgan analyst, Mark Moskowitz projected that the iPhone 5 would support both GSM and CDMA cellular capability, but would not run on a 4G network, despite both main carriers of the iPhone, AT&T and Verizon Wireless currently establishing or updating their 4G and 4G LTE networks.
While many are now certain that the iPhone 5 will support 4G, most are not expecting the smartphone to support the 4G LTE data transfer standard.
