Despite Qualcomm chip shortages, analyst says next iPhone will feature LTE

With all of the recent talk regarding the next-generation iPhone’s display, the LTE rumors seem to have faded to the background. Maybe it’s because folks are assuming that, after the third-gen iPad, the feature is a lock for Apple’s next smartphone.

Gene Munster certainly seems to think so. PiperJaffray’s senior Apple analyst told investors today that even though there has been some speculation that a Qualcomm chip shortage could affect Apple’s upcoming handset, it will still ship with LTE compatibility…

AppleInsider reports:

“The bottom line is that we remain comfortable with an October iPhone 5 launch despite the reported 28nm chip shortage at Qualcomm,” analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to investors obtained by AppleInsider on Monday.

Munster suggests that Apple’s size could help it achieve “favored inventory status” that would lessen the blow from any production woes that Qualcomm is experiencing. The firm also pointed to Apple’s “past experience in dealing with potentially limited components at launch” as reason to believe that the company will remain relatively impervious to the shortage.”

Apple is widely expected to use Qualcomm’s MDM9615 28nm chip in its new iPhone, which is not only smaller than the model sitting in the new iPad, but would also make the handset compatible with several new 4G networks.

Munster finishes the note by saying that, in addition to LTE, his firm believes that the next iPhone will feature a redesigned case, a faster processor, upgraded memory and a higher megapixel camera. Interesting.