4G

Sprint is bringing 4G LTE to Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and San Antonio on July 15. The carrier says it's trying to meet the growing data demands of its wireless customers, but rumors of an LTE-enabled iPhone probably aided their decision to finally launch the network.

Sprint had to cough up a lot of money for the privilege of carrying the iPhone, and they don't want to be left out of another Apple launch like they were when the new iPad was announced. There is also the popular Galaxy S III which was just released by Samsung. Sprint is offering the 4G LTE device with no 4G LTE service available. AT&T and Verizon are also carrying the device and both offer 4G speeds.

The iPhone 5 rumor machine is starting to warm up with obvious reports about 4G LTE and October launches. However, the biggest debate this year will probably be the size of its display. Will the next generation iPhone go big to compete with the current Android models, or will it keep the same 3.5-inch screen?

iMore claims that the iPhone 5's display will be closer to 3.5-inches. Meaning, Apple could decide to go a little bigger, but not Samsung Galaxy S II (4.65-inch) big.

According to investment bank Morgan Stanley the next generation iPhone will be slimmer and feature "a quad-mode chip" from Qualcomm that would give it both 3G and LTE capabilities. Analyst Katy Huberty (via Apple Insider) claims "new touch panel technology" will allow the iPhone to be thinner, and that Apple is considering new casing material. This coincides with a previous report from BGR who said the next iPhone will feature an all-aluminum back.

Huberty says little is known about the iPhone 5, but she believes it will be launched in Q3 of 2012 depending on "manufacturing yields" and "competition." "What is clear about iPhone 5 is that Apple and its supply chain are positively surprised by the demand for iPhone 4S, which increases confidence in strong sales for iPhone 5 later this year," she wrote in a note to investors.

AT&T is expanding its network by purchasing a slice of the 700MHz spectrum from Qualcomm. This is after the company dropped its bid to acquire T-Mobile due to opposition from the FCC and US Justice Department. Instead, AT&T and T-Mobile are entering a roaming agreement that has been billed as helpful to both companies.

The FCC has approved the latest deal, with Qualcomm selling the frequencies it was formerly using for its Flo TV service. The $1.9 billion agreement hands AT&T additional 700MHz spectrum to expand its 4G LTE network. Although the deal was announced last year, the FCC decided to review both the Qualcomm purchase and T-Mobile acquisition together and ruled on the proposal last week.

BGR, the tech blog who announced that the iPhone 5 would be here in a few weeks, dusted off an old iPhone rumor by claiming they got their hands on an internal iOS test build that features property list files for LTE.

BGR says Apple's carrier partners are testing LTE capable iPhone models, much like Sprint employees are testing the iPhone 5. And the LTE rumors didn't stop there. Today, Engadget fueled the fire by publishing an image of 4G LTE equipment inside an Apple store.

The Engadget tipster revealed that AT&T installed a piece of equipment that supports 700MHz and AWS bands in an unnamed Apple store. In March, AT&T revealed its plans to use T-Mobile's 700MHz LTE spectrum if their merger ever went through.