Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 which has been largely rumored about its arriving date, is finally expected to arrive in September. Along with the date, the features are also highly discussed knowing that it will be powered by iOS 5.

However, the latest discussion is, whether iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S will offer LTE compatibility or not.

BusinessWeek suggests three reasons why it is unlikely for the next generation iOS smartphone to offer LTE compatibility.

After the research firm iSuppli revealed the material cost of the LTE handset, HTC Thunderbold, it can be estimated that adding LTE support to an iPhone will increase the cost of electronics by 23.2 percent over what the iPhone 4 costs Apple.
This would also make the phone bulky, if it adopts the same chipset as in HTC Thunderbolt and we know how Apple is trying to slim down its phones with the slew of iPhones. LTE network is not available in the US; only Verizon covers about 75 markets.

However, last month a leaked document from AT&T suggests that AT&T hopes to get its LTE smartphones ready by ‘phase 2′ of its network deployment, which includes LTE smartphone, HSPA+ smartphone, iPhone migration.

Apple may delay the integration of chipset unless they find a way to embed it in the iPhone, as Apple COO Tim Cook said, The first generaton LTE chipsets force some design compromises. Some of which we would not make.

Electronics Apple inc. Iphone Smartphone