As early as last week, leaked reports about a US judge’s remarks on the HTC – Apple patent lawsuit were doing the round and analysts even went on to say that the iPad and iPhone 5 could be banned for using the 4G LTE technology. This week, a news published in the Korea Times suggests Samsung will be planning to sue Apple for infringing a patent on the same technology also as soon as the latest iPhone is made official tomorrow. Sources in the industry have revealed that Apple will be targeted in the European and the US markets by Samsung. Officials from the Korean technology giants have failed to acknowledge the report thus far.

Apple Way Behind of Samsung in LTE Patents

The latest iPhone is scheduled to be announced at a press event Wednesday this week and it is highly expected that it will feature the 4G LTE technology. iPhone 5 is not the only device from the Cupertino company that is going to be under fire with the third generation iPad also having the same feature. Samsung would be wanting to get one over their smartphone industry arch-rivals after they were found guilty of infringing Apple’s utility and design patents in a $1.05 billion judgement. After purchasing Nortel IP last year in February, Apple managed to get hold of 400 LTE related patents but it still trails Samsung heavily who is still the market leader with more than 800 patents.

There were high expectations of iPhone 4S having the 4G LTE technology when it came out last year but instead Apple selected the HSPA+, a marginally faster version of the 3G technology but as much as ten times slower than the 4G feature. There was speculation that Apple had reached agreements with mobile carriers in Korea for the release of iPhone but the potential legal debacle could create difficulties in carrying out marketing strategies.