New iPad Gets Cellular Tag, Drops 4G Naming Convention

Apple has decided to drop the “4G” name from its market materials, replacing the wording with “cellular” after customers began complaining that 4G data services were not offered in many areas.

The announcement for the US market comes only a short time after the company made the same concession in Australia when regulators in that country had Apple remove the 4G moniker from its materials because the new iPad doesn’t support 4G services in Australia.

As you will notice in the market screenshot shown above, the new iPad with 4G is now titled “Wi-Fi + Cellular” for both AT&T and Verizon based cellular devices.

While much of Apple’s website still touts the 4G capabilities of its newest iPad device, store displays and purchase pages are now showing the new “cellular” naming convention. Store displays now offer a “Wi-Fi” only version or the dual branded option with “Cellular” service.

Apple is quick to point out that “4G” doesn’t just mean it will always connect to 4G data speeds but that it is in fact capable of connecting to 4th-generation data networks as opposed to being limited by 3G data speeds which including options up to HSPA+. It should be noted that Apple’s iPhone 4S also claims 4G data speeds but it actually only connects on networks up to 3.5G (HSDPA+) speeds.

Currently the new iPad is only capable of connecting on five 4G networks worldwide and those networks are all located in the United States and Canada which limits its full potential as a worldwide friendly device.