. AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega on Tuesday stated that the carrier’s upcoming 4G LTE smartphones will be thinner and more power-efficient than comparable devices currently on the market. Speaking with CNET’s Roger Cheng during the CTIA Enterprise & Applications conference in San Diego on Tuesday, the AT&T chief said the company will begin launching LTE phones in the fourth quarter that utilize a new technology allowing for slimmer profiles and longer battery life. The availability of this technology, the report states, dictated the carrier’s launch schedule for the phones. Read on for more.
De la Vega explained that the technology — circuit-switch fallback, or CSFB — allows LTE devices to switch back and forth between 4G and 3G signals more efficiently than Verizon Wireless devices, which use two separate radios that must each be powered. “We had to wait longer, but we think it’s worth the wait,” de la Vega said, adding that AT&T will be the first company to offer smartphones that utilize the new technology.
