Apple Takes 27% of Global LTE Market

The iPhone 5, Apple's first LTE smartphone, was only released in September but it hasn't taken long for Apple to nab 27% of the global LTE market, according to new data from Strategy Analytics (via Yonhap News).

Apple is second in marketshare to Samsung, which registered 40% marketshare, although Samsung's share actually dropped from 50.9% in the previous quarter as Apple in particular entered the market. LG and Motorola also saw their marketshare take a hit, dropping from 15% each to 9.1% and 6.7% respectively. The only gain other than Apple was Pantech, who moved from 5.7% to 5.8%.

Strategy Analytics' data shows that global LTE subscriptions has boomed to 50 million devices in 2012, which is a five-fold increase from the estimated 9 million global subscriptions at the end of 2011. Although it's not clear whether the data includes LTE-enabled tablets alongside LTE smartphones, Apple revealed during the announcement of the iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad that their devices would support LTE in more countries.

The LTE market will continue to grow as ABI Research predicts that worldwide shipments of LTE-enabled devices could reach 61 million this year, driven in large part by smartphone owners trading in their 3G phones for LTE-enabled ones.