Taiwanese manufacturer Pegatron has spilled the beans on the production of a CDMA version of the iPhone 4, all but confirming that the Apple phone is heading to Verizon in just a few months.
CDMA is the name of the mobile network standard used by Verizon and Sprint. AT&T and T-Mobile rely on a different technology called GSM. So when Electronista reports that Pegatron is set to produce “3-4 million units” of a CDMA iPhone 4 by next February, there’s no doubt that someone other than AT&T is finally going to get their hands on the #1 selling phone in the US.
Rumors about the iPhone going to a new carrier have been rampant all year long, as AT&T’s exclusivity deal with Apple was set to expire this year and it’s widely assumed that deal was not extended.
But Apple is known for not making product announcements until the product is actually available. The company is pretty good at keeping things secret, but this is too big of a story for everyone to stay quiet. Thus, it’s possible we won’t receive an official announcement until the iPhone 4 is actually stocked on store shelves at another wireless carrier.
In addition to a Verizon iPhone in early 2011, there are also reports that T-Mobile will be getting its own version of the iPhone later this year. That will be an easier move for Apple since T-Mobile uses the same GSM network as AT&T.
Also worth taking away from today’s report is that the phone is in fact the iPhone 4. One question that had remained in the air is what device Apple would bring to the other carriers when it was no longer tied to AT&T. Some suggested it might only be the iPhone 3GS while others threw out the idea of Apple creating a completely new device. But it looks as if it will simply be a rewired iPhone 4.
