According to The Korea Times, KT – the exclusive iPhone provider in Korea, plans to introduce upgraded version of the device in April at the earliest. KT will initially sell the fourth gen iPhone to its bigger local corporate clients as a “litmus test” and will start selling via local distributors in June.

“We don’t see any bigger hurdle to introduce 4G iPhone here, as legal issues were completely cleared. It’s possible to launch the devices within the first half,” a KT executive told Korea Times. “Still, there are some 3G iPhone stocks. But KT and Apple have reached a broad consensus to introduce the advanced models as early as possible.”

The news website further adds that the 4G iPhone will feature organic light emitting diode (OLED) touchscreen, video chat functionalities and possibly removable battery. The phone will also come with dual core processor and more powerful graphics engine that can deliver higher resolution video recording and better still images.

Apple can use the ARM Cortex A9 dual core processor in the upcoming iPhone making it the first smartphone to use dual core CPU. Also Imagination Technologies, the company that provides Apple with PowerVR SGX535 graphics chip for present iPhone lineup has recently launched their new PowerVR SGX545 graphics chip. The new chip support OpenGL 3.2 and OpenCL 1.0, runs at 200MHz and can support full HD video output and recording.

It has been rumored that Apple started testing the next generation iPhone in late November 2009 and plans to unveil the new devices in second quarter of 2010. And with recent announcements from various smartphone makers, it would be good for Apple to launch the next gen iPhone as soon as possible to stay ahead in the smartphone race.