A recent survey done by Retrevo brought in front the fact that one-third of iPhone users, particularly iPhone 4, have a misconception that they use 4G technology on their phones. The “4” in iPhone 4 causes this confusion in most of the people. The fact is there is NO 4G device available from Apple right now.
According to the report,
Maybe the “4” in the iPhone 4 name gives iPhone owners (34%) the false impression that they already own a 4G phone but the fact is Apple doesn’t offer a 4G phone at the moment. Coincidentally, a suspiciously large percentage of Android and BlackBerry owners may be suffering from the same delusion.
Technically, there is no standard definition of 4G. LTE technology is considered to be 4G and in some devices HSPA+ which also provides almost the same speed as LTE is taken to be 4G. Though the next generation iPhone will not have a LTE chip but is expected to support HSPA+ which technically makes it a 4G phone.
For other platforms like Android there are 4G phones available from HTC and Samsung, mostly powered by Verizon’s LTE network. There is no such 4G thing in any of the BlackBerry devices and even the upcoming BlackBerry 9900 Bold is expected to not be a 4G ready phone. Surprisingly, many BlackBerry users are also in a delusion that they have 4G on their phones.
According to the survey itself, the people most excited about the 4G technology are the Apple users. When asked if they are planning to buy a 4G phone this year, most Apple users said yes, followed by Android and BlackBerry users.
After recent releases of 4G Android phones, it is not too late that 4G technology will be an industry standard in upcoming smart-phones.