Nexus 4 LTE spotted at Bluetooth SIG

With the Nexus 5 launch, a persistent rumor has been that we’d see a Nexus 4 with LTE accompanying it. While that makes little sense, the device has been spotted at the Bluetooth SIG, lending credence to the rumor. Then again, why is it showing up at all?

The filing shows a creation date of October 24th (yesterday), and uses the Nexus 4 model number of LG-E960. It was filed by LG Electronics, and the design Description is “LGE LTE Mobile Phone(LG-E960). The hardware version number is 1.1, and it’s listed as an “end product”, which a smartphone would be.

As we expect to see invitations for the Nexus event hit our email soon, this may shed light on why we haven’t yet received anything. Some are noting it could simply be sloppy work on the part of the Bluetooth SIG, but that doesn’t quite explain why this device is popping up in the system again — with LTE. Are we seeing a new device, or simply some review work on LG and Google’s part?

We know the device is LTE capable, as some had LTE access early on in the life of the Nexus 4. That was quickly disabled by the mothership, but LTE doesn’t have much to do with Bluetooth, which is the goal of the Bluetooth SIG. Again, we wonder, why are we seeing the Nexus 4 — LTE or not — pop up at the Bluetooth SIG?

It could simply be that the addition of LTE would cause the device to be re-certified, for some reason. If that’s the case, and the LTE Nexus 4 is coming, it would be the first time Google will have two Nexus phone offerings available at the same time. If true, we’d also assume the current price points of $199 and $249 would compliment the Nexus 5 price of $399 and (presumably) $449.