[fungi]

I have a theory :)

Nexus 4 was built with a "defective" qualcomm LTE chip that LG was able to pick up for a bargain. hence the great nexus 4 rock bottom price.

Now LG have exhausted their "defective" chip supply, they need to negotiate a new deal with qualcomm/google.

This is based on a random comment i read fsck knows where explaining how high spec, short run, chinese phones come in to being.

[pja]

ArsTechnica (IIRC) had LTE working on their Nexus 4 in Canada. The chipset is fine, the phone simply doesn't have the power amplifiers required for all the LTE bands.

[Raphael]

Perhaps the LTE radio was defective, but the rest was fine.

[keeperofdakeys]

From a hardware perspective, the Nexus 4 uses the same SoC as the LG Optimus G, it just lacks amplifiers and antennas designed for LTE frequencies (one LTE frequency is in the UTMS band, so it can function in most phones unofficially). So you could be right, although I'm not sure if LG puts together the final SoC.