A major cause for success for Samsung in North America and globally has been its wide range of LTE-ready devices. This has now been proven by statistical data for the last quarter that was recently released by research firm Strategy Analytics. The new data shows that Samsung holds the largest share for LTE devices globally, for the seventh consecutive year.
LTE (4G LTE) or Long Term Evolution is the latest and fastest standard for wireless communication. These networks provide faster speed than others like HSPA and 3G, but not all phones support this standard. In fact, most LTE phones are sold in the United States and Japan only. As LTE becomes available more widely, sales of LTE-ready phones are expected to increase almost five times from the current 9 million to 50 million in the next few years.
Samsung presently accounts for almost 40 percent of the sales in the LTE segment, thanks to the newly released Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy S III. The company claims that the advantage of Samsung’s LTE phones is that they reduce operator costs by almost 50% and can offer twice the capacity with fewer base stations, apart from the much acclaimed improved interference cancellation. Apple and other players like LG Electronics and Motorola Mobility claimed a 26.7% share, with Apple growing fastest immediately after its entry into the LTE segment in the 3rd quarter. Both LG and Motorola previously shared around 15% of the market whereas Samsung’s share was a whopping 50.9%, which fell to 40% after the launch of the iPhone 5 (Apple’s first LTE smartphone).
This news comes at a time when LG Electronics announced that it has sold over 10 million LTE enabled phones only six months after the 5 million benchmark was achieved. LG has grown substantially in recent quarters as a result of expansion in countries like United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea and also the launch of the successful LG Optimus G. Only time will tell whether Apple and LG will be able to challenge Samsung or remain second-rate players in the booming LTE market. The LTE market is a lucrative segment to control, since it is a high-margin business for carriers, which means major telecom carriers will favour manufacturers with a large LTE market share.
