At least one carrier has already agreed with Apple to sell the devices, report suggests

Dec 1, 2011 07:54 GMT  ·  By

Apple is preparing for the release of two 4G / LTE devices next year - the iPad 3 in spring and the LTE iPhone 5 in fall, both via NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese provider of wireless telecommunications services.

At least as far as Japan is concerned, the country’s biggest mobile phone operator is set to carry Apple’s next-generation devices after presumably reaching an agreement with the California-based technology giant.

According to a Google-translated piece by Japanese blog Macotakara, “NTT DOCOMO releases iPad for LTE in the summer of next year and releases iPhone for LTE by autumn.”

Both timeframes present plausible scenarios for the release of these two devices from Apple - tablets get refreshed in spring, phones in summer or autumn at the latest.