New iPhone as soon as April claims Korea Times

The Korea Times reports that Korea Telecom (KT), 'an exclusive local partner of Apple to sell iPhone' is planning to launch a new version of its handset – the 4G iPhone as soon as this April. This would mark a departure from Apple's June timeframe for announcing iPhone hardware.

The Korea Times talked to a 'high ranking KT executive' who asked not be identified. He claimed that the forthcoming 4G iPhones will come with OLED screens, live video chat applications, as well as a removable battery.

While the first two improvements sound plausible, moving to a removable battery would mark a major change in direction for Apple, which has never offered removable batteries on any of its handheld devices. And Apple has even replaced removable batteries with sealed in battery systems on its Mac laptops.

The KT executive also claimed that the 4G iPhone will feature more powerful processors, and be able to deliver higher video resolution and still image resolution when snapping pictures.

'It’s possible to launch the devices within the first half [of 2010],' a high-ranking KT executive told The Korea Times, asking not to be identified.

'KT and Apple have reached a broad consensus to introduce the advanced models as early as possible,' he added.

The Korea Times cites analysts and KT officials who claimed that Apple will bring forward the release of the 4G iPhone in order to counter the growing appeal of Android-based handsets.