A slightly modified iPhone 5 featuring support for AWS bands will go on sale in Apple retail stores from the 12th of April. According to Engadget, facilitating Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) requires slightly modifying the hardware and those who already own the iPhone 5 won't be able to enjoy these benefits by means of a software update.
T-Mobile will begin carrying the iPhone 5 on the 12th of April too and we are sure that T-Mobile will be offering the AWS variant of the iPhone 5 from the go. The new A1428 iPhone 5 will look exactly the same as the current model and will be available as unlocked and SIM free. Apple will also be moving AT&T sales onto the newer model as well so anyone looking for this newer model will have no problems from the 12th of April.
There are plenty of mobile operators using AWS and while a large number of smartphone manufacturers offer devices featuring radios capable of communicating using the AWS spectrum, the iPhone 5 has to date not beenn one of them. This new, minor, enhancement is great if you are planning on purchasing an iPhone 5 in the next month or so. We can all wonder whether Apple planned this move well in advance as a tweaked device is going to become a talking point and with the Samsung Galaxy S4 on the way this could be exactly what Apple were planning. The new iPhone 5 may just take the focus of the Samsung Galaxy S4. That being said, the new Galaxy is at least half a generation ahead of its Apple rival and AWS or not, the iPhone may just struggle a bit to stop its rival from selling in vast quantities. The new tweaked iPhone 5 will run on AT&T with full support for LTE.
