Strong iPhone 5 Sales Give Apple 27% Of Global LTE Market, But Samsung’s Still Top [Report]

Strong sales of the iPhone 5 have helped Apple grab more than a quarter of the global LTE device market last quarter, despite the handset’s short time on sale. The Cupertino company now commands 27% of the market share, while arch rival Samsung’s 40% share means it maintains the top spot for the seventh quarter in a row.

However, increasing competition from its rivals means Samsung’s share has quickly slipped by more than 10% from 50.9% in the previous quarter.

New research data from Strategy Analytics has found that global subscription for LTE devices has surged more than five-fold to around 50 million units, from 9 million units last year. The hugely successful iPhone 5 has helped that, as have flagship LTE smartphones from Samsung, LG, and Pantech.

Apple quickly claimed 26.7% of the market share during the three-month period, which came at the expense of its rivals. LG saw its market share drop from 15% to 9.1% last quarter, despite the launch of the new Optimus G LTE; while Motorola’s share dropped from 15% to 6.7%.

Like Apple, Pantech saw some growth — albeit it very small — from 5.7% to 5.8%.

LTE devices are quickly gaining traction, then, and they’re only going to become more popular as LTE networks pop up around the world. The United States, Japan, and Korea are currently the biggest 4G markets, while the United Kingdom got its first 4G network courtesy of EE earlier this year.

• Source Yonhap News
• Via The Next Web

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