Andre Yoskowitz
21 Jun 2012 18:12
According to tech analyst Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee, the next-generation iPhone will support China Mobile's own 3G network, making it the first Apple device to be truly a "world phone."
Support for the TD-SCDMA 3G network will be one of the new "key features" of the iPhone 5, says Wu.
China Mobile has over 650 million mobile subscribers, making it far and away the largest carrier on the planet.
LTE is not too important in the short term for China, as the nation has only been trialing the networks, with full rollouts expected in 2 years.
Apple will also be adding Chinese-language enhancements to iOS 6, including giving Siri the ability to understand and speak Mandarin and Cantonese. Mandarin is the most spoken language on Earth. Additionally, the phones are expected to have easier Chinese character input.
The new phone will likely launch in October, a year after the iPhone 4S and the phone is expected to have a new form factor, a larger 4-inch screen, and LTE.