Possible LTE iPhone 5 Release This Fall?

Apple could launch its 4G LTE iPhone 5 this autumn and one of the first lucky countries to enjoy it could be the United Arab Emirates.
“Yes, we are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year,” stated Ali Al Ahmad, spokesman for the UAE wireless carrier Etisalat. Etisalat is planning to roll out its LTE network in Q3 2011.
“As the first telecom organization to roll out the 4G network, LTE, in the Middle East we have already started talking to them for the handsets and chipsets in them”, Ali Al Ahmad added. „They” may mean Apple, but the company could release its fifth-generation LTE smartphone next year because of LTE Qualcomm chipset supply issues. Therefore, Apple could offer Etisalat only two options: GSM or CDMA handsets, the Register reported.

Etisalat’s spokesman might have exaggerated a bit due to over enthusiasm since reports suggested in February that iPhone 5 would not be launched in 2011. Apple’s next iPhone is “aimed for a June/July launch next year”, according to Sam Greenholtz of Telecom Pragmatics.
Moreover, Tim Cooks, Apple’s COO seemed a bit unsure that the company would offer LTE iPhones after all. „ [...] the first generation of LTE chipsets forced a lot of design compromises with the handset, and some of those we are just not willing to make”, he stated.
All in all, evidence seems to point that LTE capable iPhones won’t be launched this year and maybe, just maybe, Etisalat’s spokesman simply wanted to draw the media’s attention to the wireless carrier.