36 carriers getting LTE for iPhone, iPad next week
updated 06:33 pm EST, Wed January 23, 2013
Expansion may be essential for successful future
Next week, 36 more carriers supporting the iPhone and/or iPad will be getting LTE, Apple revealed during today's Q1 results call. Although the company didn't name specific carriers, it did note that they're spread across regions including Denmark, Italy, Switzerland, and the Philippines. "Several" countries in the Middle East should be getting LTE.
4G support will be important for Apple going forward, since without it the iPhone and iPad lose some of their marketing value. After the third-generation iPad was released in March 2012, the company in fact ran into trouble for marketing LTE compatibility in countries where Apple hardware didn't support the right frequencies. Since then the company has chosen to label 3G/4G iPads as "Wi-Fi + Cellular" models, and upgraded the iPad's LTE range.
