AppleInsider Staff
Coming on the heels of T-Mobile's "Uncarrier" event, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission published its report of the new A1428 iPhone 5 model bound for the carrier's network, complete with Advanced Wireless Services support.
First spotted by Engadget, the FCC report details the T-Mobile iPhone 5, including RF exposure and performance. Photos of the device are also found in the document, though the handset is cosmetically unchanged from current iterations.
It was reported earlier on Tuesday that, while still bearing the A1428 model number as the AT&T version, T-Mobile's iPhone 5 will support HSPA+ on AWS bandwidths, a feature not activated in Apple's existing handsets. The smartphone supposedly come modified straight from the factory, meaning AT&T iPhone 5 owners are unable to activate AWS capabilities with a firmware update.
However, once the phone launches on T-Mobile's network on April 12, Apple is said to be replacing the older A1428 with the new AWS-supporting model.
T-Mobile is the last of the "Big Four" U.S. wireless telecoms to become an Apple partner carrier, and will feature the handset as a flagship LTE smartphone for its new 4G network. As part of a no-subsidy pricing scheme, the 16GB iPhone 5 will be sold for a $99 up-front fee, with the remaining price spread out over 20 additional monthly payments of $20.
The iPhone 5 goes on sale on April 12 in T-Mobile's retail stores, while preorders kick off on April 5.
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
Oliver Haslam
William Gallagher
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9 Comments
So it looks like the Apple prototypes that have been surfacing are the new T-Mobile versions is what it sounds like.
[quote name="drblank" url="/t/156677/fcc-clears-t-mobiles-iphone-5-for-aws-bandwidths#post_2300772"]So it looks like the Apple prototypes that have been surfacing are the new T-Mobile versions is what it sounds like.[/quote] Doubtful. As the article says, these models bare the same number as the current AT&T version, only with AWS spectrum support enabled on the SoC. Otherwise it is physically and numerically identical.
I think the original poster is referring to the "Spring release of new iPhone" rumors being the grain of truth for the T-Mobile modded iPhone and all the redesign rumors added to that rumor are fiction.
[quote name="OriginalMacRat" url="/t/156677/fcc-clears-t-mobiles-iphone-5-for-aws-bandwidths#post_2300800"] I think the original poster is referring to the "Spring release of new iPhone" rumors being the grain of truth for the T-Mobile modded iPhone and all the redesign rumors added to that rumor are fiction. [/quote] I read[B] drblank[/B]'s comment the same way [B]Cash907[/B] did and agree with his reply.
FCC filings make it clear there are NO hardware changes at all for AWS support. This is purely a firmware trigger. That being the case, why is Apple not going to simply expose the bands on existing phones through an OS update? Sort of smells.