Apple's range of influence is steadily increasing as the Cupertino-based company secures additional global LTE support for its flagship iPhone 5 smartphone. Starting next week, in fact, the company will be adding dozens of carriers to its LTE service, according to Apple Insider.
CEO Tim Cook reveals, "we're adding 36 more carriers for LTE support. These carriers will be in countries that we are not currently supporting LTE....Today we have 24 carriers around the world that provide LTE support for iPhone 5. Those are countries like the US, Korea, the UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, Australia, and a few others."
The executive pointed to "Italy Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Philippines, and several middle eastern countries" as future homes of LTE support. "If you look at the total of all of these, the incremental subscribers in those countries, it's over 300 million," he adds.
The iPhone 5 is feather-light and takes the record for the thinnest smartphone Apple has ever made. The device shows up the iPhone 4S with a 4-inch screen that displays at 1136 x 640 pixels, a brand new A6 chip, and an ultra-thin touch pad that sharpens feedback to user input.
At normal prices, prospective device owners who sign a two-year contract with Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint have the option of a 16GB iPhone 5 at $199, a 32GB at $299.99, and a 64GB at $399.99.