Japan rumor: LTE iPad 3 coming in summer 2012, LTE iPhone 5 in Fall
According to the Japanese blog Macotakara, which relayed a Nikkei Business story, Apple is gearing up for a 2012 release of both 4G LTE iPhone and iPad on NTT DoCoMo, the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan.
Context & Ripple Effects
This rumor extends an arc the corpus has been tracking all year: back in May, sources told MacRumors an LTE-enabled iPhone was due in 2012 even as the iPhone 4S was being prepped for September, and by August Apple was reportedly testing LTE inside iOS 5 and hiring more LTE engineers. The Nikkei Business report relayed by Macotakara adds two specifics — timing (summer 2012 for the iPad, fall for the iPhone) and a named carrier, NTT DoCoMo.
The DoCoMo angle is the notable part. Apple's courtship of Japan's dominant operator goes back to December 2007, when the [[a:1182062|Wall Street Journal reported Apple meeting with DoCoMo and Softbank about launching the iPhone in Japan]]; a 2012 LTE deal with DoCoMo would finally give that relationship a product. Both claims here are unconfirmed rumors, not Apple statements.
First-order effects
- If accurate, NTT DoCoMo — described as Japan's predominant mobile operator — would add both flagship Apple devices to its lineup in a single year, a distribution shift for a carrier the iPhone has so far eluded since those 2007 talks.
- Apple's own 2012 roadmap would compress into two LTE launches within months of each other, putting the radio transition across both the iPhone and iPad lines simultaneously rather than sequentially.
Second-order effects
- DoCoMo's rivals in Japan would face a two-front response: matching LTE network marketing against Apple's halo devices while defending their own handset lineups against the pull of an exclusive-or-near-exclusive Apple supply.
- Baseband and RF suppliers gain a second high-volume LTE design win — the iPad alongside the iPhone — which raises the stakes of the component qualification cycle Apple began testing in iOS 5 earlier in 2011.
Third-order effects
- A successful DoCoMo entry would mark the pattern carriers worldwide have been negotiating toward: LTE capability becoming the ticket for premium devices, with operators competing on network speed claims tied to specific Apple launches.
- If Apple ships LTE across its whole mobile lineup in 2012, carrier subsidy structures built around annual single-device upgrades come under pressure to accommodate multi-device Apple households — the dynamic CIRP's survey data on early-termination-fee tolerance already hints consumers will pay for.
The trend: Apple's 2012 product cycle is converging on LTE across both iPhone and iPad, with Japan's largest carrier positioned as the newest node in its distribution expansion.