[ken21]

i have a 3 g iphone. contract’s up early ‘12.

i’m thinking of either waiting for the iphone 5,

or of going for the galaxy s2.

any ideas?

[RobertClark]

I believe they are waiting for LTE compatability. This is one area in which they are well behind most Droid phones. Verizon has a great LTE network, for the most part, but AT&T is significantly behind. I wonder if AT&T influenced the decision in their desire to not lose market share to Verizon?

[Erik Latranyi]

I think Rush also had a good point.

AT&T and Verizon LTE networks are not established....but they will be shortly.

The iPhone 5 should be a true “world phone” that will run on nearly all networks worldwide.

[kevkrom]

I think it’s a combination of the 2-year contract cycle and the fact that 4G really isn’t ready for primetime yet.

Let’s see how the dual-antenna 4S actually performs before we start lamenting how Apple trails some Android devices.

[VeniVidiVici]

The 4S doesn’t do 4G so what’s the point?

[SkyDancer]

[Nachoman]

Thankfully, I’m too dumb for a smart phone.

[Republican Extremist]

I was going to upgrade from my 3GS, but I will wait for the 5 now.

[Talisker]

Okay, Now I Get It: Here's Why Apple Launched The iPhone 4S Instead Of The iPhone 5

LOL - it's Apple! The iPhone 5 isn't ready. Jobs died. Bingo - instant marketing revenue stream possibility. So you shove what you have out the door, and people buy it because they associate it with Jobs, and because you connect it with a "for Steve" meme, and because you release an authorized bio of him and run his "wit and wisdom" in all the mags and newspapers. Then later, when the iPhone 5 is finally ready, you release that.

IMHO, this level of absolutely crass marketing of Job's death, to squeeze the last penny out of a not-ready beta product, is probably the only TRULY accurate memorial to the way the guy ACTUALLY lived that is ever going to happen.

[mikrofon]

The iPhone 4S, short for:

- 4Sowhat’sthebigdeal?
- 4Sayonara,Steve
- 4S (a/k/a 4.5, “S” looks like a “5”)

[stripes1776]

The 4S is selling very well. It set a sales record: over 1 million pre-orders in 24 hours. This is going to be the most popular iPhone of all.

[ari-freedom]

Apple? heh
I remember those guys. They used to make state of the art phones.

[Turbopilot]

I was talking about this issue with a friend of mine, and he brought up what I think is the main reason Apple released a 4S instead of a 5: the iPhone 4 is still the best phone on the market even 16 months after its introduction. There’s no need to rush out a revolutionary change when minor updates to keep the “spec list” up there with the higher-end Droid hardware is good enough to hold off the competition until next year.

[BunnySlippers]

The iPhone 4S is the biggest, most successful iPhone product launch ever.