'World-mode' iPhone due next year, says fanboi rumor

CDMA meets Jobsian cult

By Cade Metz in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 8th November 2009 05:51 GMT

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The Jobsian cult is hard at work on a "world-mode" iPhone capable of tapping both CDMA and GSM/UMTS wireless networks, according to the fanboi rumor mill.

Citing a report from investment research firm OTR Global - which cites unnamed sources in the Taiwanese handset supply chain - Apple Insider says this dual-standard Jobsian status symbol will arrive on Verizon's stateside CDMA network in the third quarter of 2010.

The idea is to build a single handset that can be sold to carriers across the globe. In the US, both Verizon and Sprint are still on CDMA.

According to Apple Insider citing OTR Global citing unnamed Taiwanese sources, an Asustek subsidiary will build Apple's hybrid iPhone - not current partner Hon Hai. Apparently, Steve Jobs doesn't want to be "constrained by a single-source assembler."

The rumor mill also says that Apple's world-mode iPhone will have a 2.8-inch screen, which would make it about 20 per cent smaller than today's 3.5-inch device. Previously, pics have appeared on the net indicating a 2.8-inch model is in the works.

In the US, today's UMTS-based iPhone is available solely on AT&T's second rate network, forcing Verizon into a partnership with the strangest of bedfellows: Google. Verizon is currently flooding the country with ads trumpeting its Google-based iPhone-challenger, which it insists on calling Droid. ®

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