Apple may be riding a buzz wave after its highly anticipated event today, but another patent battle may be just around the corner. This time it’s against the freshly announced LTE capability in the iPhone 5.
After the devastating $1 billion verdict in Apple v. Samsung in August, Samsung promised in a media briefinglast month that it would sue Apple if it released an LTE-capable iPhone.
Today, Apple confirmed that its newest smartphone will carry LTE on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and several global carriers. Samsung told Mashable via email that it would not comment on its next steps at this time.
LTE is a next-generation wireless broadband technology with extremely high speeds that are ideal for web browsing and video streaming. And it has been one area where Apple has simply lagged behind. (Apple’s iPad is already LTE-compatible, but only on Verizon and AT&T networks.)
“LTE is the most complicated technology ever brought to this Earth,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during his presentation at the iPhone 5 event today.
While several companies already hold the necessary patents for LTE — Nokia at the top with 18.9% — Samsung has a claim on 12.2% of those patents. Until now, those LTE speeds on the Galaxy Note and Galaxy X III have given the manufacturer sturdy fighting ground in its head-to-head smartphone sales battle with Apple.
Even though it won last month’s verdict, Apple hasn’t backed down from its patent fight. Shortly after the trial, Apple produced a list of eight Samsung products it wants banned from sale in the United States.
In turn, Samsung released a memo declaring that it would fight Apple’s win, noting that similar cases abroad have resulted in drastically different verdicts. The company also called out Apple for prioritizing litigation over innovation.
