Verizon/AT T Hybrid iPhone Not Coming Next Year? Qualcomm Dual-Carrier Chips Ready Only in 2011

More and more reports suggest that Verizon is going to get the iPhone
next year. But not all those reports are saying the same thing. Some are
talking about an LTE iPhone while others mention a hybrid iPhone capable
of dealing with both UMTS and CDMA networks.
Today we find out that Qualcomm announced official plans for
dual-carrier chips that will offer support for both CDMA/EVDO and
UMTS/HSPA. Add to that a pinch of LTE and you end up with a chip that is
ready to work in any wireless network in the USA. Such a chip will also
connect to faster LTE networks and the Verizon/AT T hybrid iPhone would
therefore be a possibility.
The only problem with all that is that Qualcomm can t make the chip
available next year. In fact the company plans to have it ready only in
2011. That means manufacturers will still have to cook different phones
for CDMA and UMTS carriers. That also happens to mean that a hybrid
iPhone will only be available in about two years or so.
Analysts say that Apple will not be able to release a dual-mode iPhone
next year so Verizon will probably get a CDMA version of Apple s phone
next year.
As always, there are no official details regarding Verizon s future
iPhone but analysts say that it s likely for Apple to launch one in
2010. One more argument suggesting that the hybrid iPhone is only coming
in 2011 is the fact that those dual-mode chips are going to be a little
more expensive. Verizon and AT T will want to keep the price of the
future iPhones as low as possible in order to get as many new customers
as possible.
On the other hand saying that certain things are impossible will get you
nowhere. It wouldn t be the first time that Apple could surprises us
with its out of the box solution. That s why we shouldn t dismiss that
hybrid iPhone immediately although it now seems rather unlikely to see
it in stores next year. The only clear conclusion seems to be that a
Verizon iPhone is definitely coming next year.