Last year when Apple unveiled the iPhone 4 (not 4G) last year, the tech-savvy consumer knew that the device was not 4G. Sure, it had the 4 at the end, but they new that the ’4′ at the end was for the fourth iteration. But, the ’4′ suffix on the iPhone makes the average consumer think that their device is running on 4G.

I’m sorry to break it to you (if you didn’t know already), that the iPhone 4 is not 4G-LTE or 4G-WiMax capable. I’m sorry if this is the first time you’ve heard this, and if the person at the AT&T or Verizon store told you it was, you got jipped out of awesome real 4G handsets like the ThunderBolt and Evo 4G.

This whole problem stems from people calling the iPhone 4 the ‘iPhone 4G’, with the G standing for generation. Although correct, this is not the term Apple uses, mainly because of the confusion issue. Usually, when Apple adds a ‘G’ to the suffix of the iPhone, it usually means the network technology.  If Apple was to add a ‘G’ onto the iPhone 4′s name in September, you could expect it to be 4G (LTE or HSPA+). The reason why people are calling the next iteration of the iPhone the ‘iPhone 5′ is because they don’t know if it will be the true iPhone 4G; as in, it runs on LTE or HSPA+.

It looks like Apple has their marketing team between a rock and a hard place, considering that their next iteration might be called the iPhone 4G. This would make regular consumers (who don’t read TiP), think that the only improvement between that device and the iPhone 4 is the addition of 4G.

Do you think the next iPhone will have 4G, or will it just be the 5th generation? Let us know in the comments below, or by sending me a tweet.

Via: The Loop