iPhone 5 pushes Apple to become worlds second largest LTE device maker Samsungs lead narrows

Samsung retains its leading positions as LTE vendor, but for the first time around Apple has emerged as a strong runner-up, eating up nearly 11% of Samsung’s share in the third quarter of the year. Despite only having the iPhone 5 for a short while, Apple grabbed a confident 26.7% of the market, according to researchers from Strategy Analytics.

Samsung on the other hand slipped from a commanding 50.9% share of the LTE market, to 40% in Q3 2012.

4G LTE adoption has really sped up in the United States, with all three major carriers rolling out and expanding their networks across the nation. Japan and Korea also have a quickly developing 4G market, but apart from these three, there are little other markets where LTE is widely deployed.

When it comes to the actual devices, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the iPhone 5 have been the two most influential LTE smartphones.

LG which held strong positions also slipped after the iPhone 5 launch to 9.1% market share, down from 15%.

Overall, Strategy Analytics predicts that by the end of the year there will be around 50 million LTE subscribers across the globe, a big boom over the 9 million active at the end of 2011.

source: Strategy Analytics via Yonhap, The Next Web

iPhone 5 pushes Apple to become worlds second largest LTE device maker Samsungs lead narrows