LTE handset in 2010 a longshot despite 4G iPhone hopes

"There will be an interest in developing super-high-end devices that have compelling super-high-end data rates, but those won't be high-volume sellers," Lantto said. "They will be used more to show off."

BUILDING THE LTE iPHONE

If Verizon and Apple were to launch an LTE iPhone in 2010, they likely would be dependent on one company to get them the necessary silicon: Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM). As the world's primary supplier of CDMA chips, Qualcomm would need to supply the integrated CDMA 1X, EV-DO and LTE chipsets that would allow the iPhone to make calls on the Verizon network and access both the 3G and 4G data networks. Though Qualcomm isn't commenting on any possible deal with Apple or Verizon, it doesn't see much likelihood of any Qualcomm-powered LTE handset emerging in 2010.

Qualcomm is making only dual-mode platforms—integrating LTE and either HSPA or EV-DO in the same chipset—so its products will hit the market slightly later than those competitors making single-mode LTE chips. Right now, Qualcomm is scheduled to sample its first data card chipsets, the Mobile Data Modem 9xxx family, in the current quarter, but its first handset chipset, the Mobile Station Modem 8960, won't get into vendors' hands until mid-2010. Given the time lag between receiving a chip and designing, building and testing the device, launching an LTE handset using a Qualcomm chipset would be virtually impossible.

"We would expect multi-mode LTE data cards in the market in later 2010, with multi-mode LTE handsets in 2011," Qualcomm CDMA Technologies senior director of product management Peter Carson said in an e-mail interview. Qualcomm claims it will have the first multi-mode LTE chipsets in the market, which puts it on target to deliver the first LTE phones. While a handset maker could use a single-mode platform to make a device, Carson said there would be little point. "Our multi-mode solutions will support LTE as a standalone mode, however, 3G multi-mode will be necessary to ensure a smooth LTE introduction and a seamless mobile broadband user experience."

Another option for Apple would be to eschew Qualcomm for LTE and provision separate radio and processing components, which, while not integrated on a single chip, could each be optimized for the handset. Specialty 4G chip maker Altair Semiconductor is proposing these sorts of implementations with its product line, which consists of standalone radio baseband and radio frequency transceivers. Altair is focusing primarily on the embedded device market and has designed a small low-power chip that can be used in both handsets and data cards, said Eran Eshed, vice president of marketing and business development for Altair.