Calling 2012 a “breakout year for 4G LTE technology,” Strategy Analytics today released a report predicting tenfold growth this year in shipments of LTE phones. The firm’s Neil Shah projects that 67 million LTE phones will ship this year, primarily manufactured by Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Pantech and Fujitsu. He says the United States, Japan and South Korea will lead the growth in the LTE market.
Meanwhile Africa, Asia and Latin America will lead the growth in overall handset demand, which Strategy Analytics predicts will hit 1.8 billion units this year. The firm says that roughly 650 million of those will be smartphones, meaning that LTE phones will represent just over 10% of the smartphone market, based on the firm’s projection of 67 million units.
Research group NPD says that LTE phones represented 7% of the smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2011, but that 4G phones accounted for a third of sales when WiMAX and HSPA+ handsets are included. Like Strategy Analytics, NPD foresees major growth in LTE this year. Apple is widely expected to introduce an LTE-compatible iPhone this year, having already introduced LTE to its customers with the newest iPad. Currently, NPD says the top selling LTE phone is the HTC Thunderbolt.
While this represents a huge increase from this year’s 6.8 million LTE handsets shipped, it is a small fraction of the overall smartphone market, and just a sliver of the handset market. Strategy Analytics says will be the world’s three fastest-growing regions. LTE will experience a breakout year in the United States, Japan and South Korea, and worldwide volumes will surge ten-fold. Apple will generate huge profits that exceed even most vendors’ revenues. This report forecasts global handset shipments by quarter for all 6 major regions, such as North America, from Q1 2004 through Q4 2012. The report goes on to forecast handset shipments, revenues, ASPs and profits by 8 major vendors, such as Apple and HTC, from 2000 until Q4 2012. Global grey phone volumes, and handset shipments by type, by quarter for 2012 are also included.
