Telecom Lead Asia: FD-LTE has contributed immensely to the growth of 4G smartphones in Q4 2012.
FD-LTE smartphones in the fourth quarter increased 151 percent, the second straight quarter of triple-digit growth, according to Infonetics Research.
TDD-LTE smartphones are also ramping fast, despite a temporary dip in growth in the fourth quarter.
In 2012, 5 times as many W-CDMA/HSPA smartphones shipped as LTE smartphones.
By 2015 Infonetics Research expects LTE smartphones to overtake W-CDMA/HSPA.
The growing popularity of low-cost LTE tablets, shared data plans, and improved LTE network coverage (especially in developed markets like North America and Western Europe), will drive LTE-enabled tablets to close the gap on WiFi-only tablets by 2017.
The global smartphone market totaled $247 billion in 2012, up 51 percent from 2011.
Owing to the launch of the iPhone 5, Apple regained its lead in smartphone revenue market share in Q4 2012 with 37 percent, followed by Samsung with 29 percent. However, Samsung maintains its lead in smartphone unit share.
Sales of tablets reached $42 billion worldwide in 2012, up 281 percent over 2011.
In 2012, shipments of standalone USB mobile broadband cards grew steadily, driven by W-CDMA shipments in developing countries and LTE growth in developed markets.
Meanwhile, embedded cards declined as the more functional tablet segment overshadowed embedded PCs and mobile internet devices (MIDs).
Infonetics expects the number of global mobile broadband subscribers (phone and PC) to grow from 1.2 billion in 2012 to close to 3 billion by 2017.
In May 2012, Infonetics’ principal analyst Stéphane Téral said: “The LTE equipment market will grow to $17.5 billion in 2016.”
