While there has been plenty of speculation that the iPad 3 might include support for high-speed LTE 4G mobile data, Rene Ritchie of iMore has heard from a very reliable source that the iPad 3 will indeed support 4G LTE, essentially putting such rumors to rest.
iMore reports:
The same source that originally told iMore Apple would be holding their iPad 3 event on March 7 has now let us know that the announcement will include 4G LTE networking. We’d heard previously that 4G LTE would be coming to iOS in 2012, but not whether it would make the cut for iPad 3, or whether Apple would save it for iPhone 5 in October.
The report is interesting considering that Apple wouldn’t stand to benefit greatly by including the technology – LTE coverage is still rather slip across major carriers, with Verizon currently touting the largest LTE coverage area.
If Apple was able to find a single chip that can connect to LTE networks as well as CDMA and GSM networks, however, the decision may have simply been one of including the most versatile possible chip in their next-gen iOS devices.