In an interview with GulfNews.com, an etisalat spokesperson revealed that the Dubai-based carrier is in talks with Apple about a potential iPhone 5 launch later this year. Ali Al Ahmad, Chief Corporate Communication Officer at etisalat, said,
“Yes, we are in talks with most smartphone manufacturers including Apple on the rollout of the 4G handset, iPhone 5 later this year. As the first telecom organisation to roll out the 4G network, LTE, in the Middle East, we have already started talking to them for the handsets and chipsets in them.”
It’s not completely clear from this statement whether the iPhone 5 will support LTE although it is implied.
Older rumours have suggested that the iPhone 5 would not support LTE connectivity though. Other rumours have suggested that Apple would release the iPhone 4S, sporting a number of updates, this year with the iPhone 5 (with LTE connectivity) to follow in 2012.