About a month ago, Sprint confirmed that 4G WiMax mobile phones are on the way and now Verizon Wireless, another mobile communications leader has informed of their intention of launching 4G phones.

The news comes by way of Anthony Melone, Verizon’s Chief Technology Officer who expects that the carrier will have 4G phones by mid 2011, approximately a calender year after the Long Term Evolution (LTE) went live for data only, though the 4G smartphones are still some six months ahead of schedule.

It’s believed that the first generation mobile phones will come with both LTE and CDMA chipsets so that mobile users will be able to toggle between networks as initially, the 4G coverage area will be limited. This makes total sense and a similar plan is also being adopted by Sprint with their 4G launch.

Another interesting point brought up by Malone was his belief that once the Verizon 4G network is in full operation, unlimited data plans will go the way of the dinosaur and mobile customers will need to adjust to either metered or tiered data plans. With this though, mobile users will need to have an accurate gauge to track their bandwidth use, but Malone suggests that customers that don’t use the service are as much of a problem as those that over use it.

Via: Device Mag, Electronista