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iPhone 5 or iPhone 4GS? 4G LTE Testing Rumors Give Credence To Recent 4Gs Rumor

The tech media has oscillated between the belief that the next iPhone will be either a revamped iPhone 5 or refreshed iPhone 4s. But a recent rumor that suggests the next iPhone will be the “iPhone 4Gs” might make sense in light of recent 4G LTE iPhone testing rumors.
Since the launch of the iPhone 4, iPhone users have been calling for Apple to bring the iPhone franchise into the next generation of digital networking by equipping the iPhone 5 with 4G LTE capabilities. Up until recently, however, little evidence has made it into the iPhone 5 rumor mill to suggest that Apple is ready to commit the iPhone 5 to the relative unknown of mainstream 4G adoption, opting instead to allow its mobile carriers to boast of “4G-like speeds” on the next iPhone by way of the ultra-fast HSPA+, or “fake 4G,” as it is affectionately referred to.
There is, however, a rash of fresh reports that suggest Apple may indeed be planning on rolling out 4G capabilities on the iPhone 5.
The typically well-sourced BGR is reporting that “While we can’t confirm that the upcoming fifth-generation iPhone will be able to support 4G LTE, we can now exclusively confirm that Apple’s carrier partners are testing iPhone models with LTE capability. BGR has obtained evidence of an internal iOS test build from one of Apple’s major carrier partners, and buried in the firmware is a property list (.plist file) for LTE.”
This is the first actionable intelligence that Apple’s U.S. carriers are tinkering with a 4G iPhone 5; the only other similar rumor to this point came out of the Middle East in mid June, when UAE carrier Etisalat made the audacious claim that they had been in serious talks with Apple about a 4G iPhone 5.
While BGR stipulates that U.S. carriers testing 4G on the new iPhone does not necessarily mean that Apple is ready to unveil 4G LTE on the iPhone 5, it cannot be discounted that the release of the Samsung Galaxy S 2 and its 4G-ready capabilities could be a concern for Apple, since the GS2 is slated to most likely be released before the iPhone 5.
That being said, the BGR report today is a dramatic shift from the prevailing belief that the iPhone 5 would most likely not be 4G LTE-ready, reinforced just a week ago from top tech news sources like PC Mag.

iPhone 5 or iPhone 4Gs? Last week, the iPhone 5 News Blog broke a new rumor that the next iPhone would in fact be called the "iPhone 4Gs" and would feature the same form-factor as the iPhone 4, but with improved features such as the A5 chip. The news came from a trusted source: an executive at a top Asian iPhone case producer, who is planning his up-coming case designs based on this information, which he received from trusted suppliers in mainland China.
While devoted iPhone users lament the possibility of the next iPhone turning out to be a perceived "refresh" of the iPhone 4, today's news of possible 4G LTE capabilities for the next iPhone lends credence to the "4Gs" rumor, offering both "4G" and "s" for "speed," thanks to the addition of the A5 chip. Just as the iPhone 3G ushered in the 3G network, and the 3Gs was a speedy refresh of the iPhone 3G (thanks to its Samsung APL0298C05 chip), so too could the next iPhone be at once a groundbreaking, inaugural 4G iPhone  and also a "refresh" if it was to keep the general form factor of the iPhone 4.