CTIA 2012 Preview: New Phones, More Debate Over Spectrum

05.05.2012
TIA 2012 kicks off next week in the Big Easy, and PCWorld will be at the show to bring you all the latest mobile news from New Orleans.

Unlike (MWC) or even the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), is more of a U.S.-focused show for the wireless industry. Here's what we know so far.

With a lack of press conferences from any of the major handset makers, we probably won't see any flagship phones launching at CTIA this year. Samsung just announced its , after all. We likely won't be seeing U.S.-branded Galaxy S III phones quite yet; those are expected to debut this summer, but no exact dates have been given.

We've already seen a clutch of interesting HTC phones come out this year, like the and the , but expect even more from the Taiwanese handset maker.

The HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE briefly appeared on Verizon's site, but quickly disappeared. Luckily, a few blogs caught screenshots before Verizon could take the specs list down. The Droid Incredible reportedly has a 1.2GHz processor, a 4-inch Super LCD display, and 1GB of RAM. The is also scheduled to make its debut on May 7.

Huawei, Kyocera, LG, and ZTE all have booths on the show floor, so we might see some new phones or phones that were announced at MWC or CES with U.S. and carrier branding. Two new companies that specialize in inexpensive handsets--Unnecto and Plum--also will be present.