During the conference call that followed its latest quarterly results, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo appears to have accidentally revealed that the iPhone 5 will be a “global device,” one that will support both GSM and CDMA. Asked a question about Q1 ARPU growth, he responded:
The fluctuation, I believe, will come when a new device from Apple is launched, whenever that may be, and that we will be, on the first time, on equal footing with our competitors on a new phone hitting the market, which will also be a global device.
Past rumours suggested that Apple would use Qualcomm chipsets in both the iPad 2 and iPhone 5. This has been partly validated given that the Qualcomm MDM6600 chipset used in both the CDMA-based iPhone 4 and CDMA-based iPad 2 could support both GSM/HSPA and CDMA should both be activated. It is not a stretch to see Apple and Qualcomm complete any necessary driver development in time for the release of the iPhone 5.
It remains to be seen if Apple will offer a single iPhone 5 model (rumoured to be shipping in September) supporting both GSM and CDMA or more than one with support for different technologies as it does today.