Telecom Lead Asia: Consumer electronics giant LG Electronics (LG) on Sunday said it sold more than 10 million LTE smartphones.
The new milestone — announced by LG today — is a result of LG’s push into 4G markets with a combination of better hardware and advanced 4G LTE technologies.
Recently, IDC said top five vendors command almost two thirds of the market. Samsung has increased its market share in smartphone market to 29 percent in Q4 2012 from 22.5 percent. Apple’s share has slipped from 23 percent to 21.8 percent. LG’s is not in top 5 list for smartphone market share.
According to IDC, 712.6 million smartphones were shipped in 2012, up 44.1 percent from 2011. Total mobile phone shipments grew just 1.2 percent last year, but that smartphones now represent a much bigger part of the overall mobile phone market (45.5 percent).
Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of the LG Mobile Communications, said: “Aggressive pushing forward with 4G LTE technology allows LG satisfy the needs of consumers and is a huge factor in our growing success in global LTE smartphone sales.”
According to IDC, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), mobile operators are aggressive with their rollouts of LTE services than they were with 3G a few years back.
Six countries in APEJ rolled out LTE plans for smartphones, portable broadband, or both. Most operators in mature markets are rapidly expanding their coverage and have positioned 4G services at little to no premium over 3G.
Smartphone vendors have also added LTE models to their premium line of product offerings in such markets. The migration from 3G to 4G offers a lucrative opportunity for mobile operators as they look to entice consumers to move to fair data usage and tiered data plans. It also allows consumers access to LTE speeds at 3G prices as long as it is within limits of the subscribed usage cap.
LG on Sunday claimed that its success in expanding its presence in LTE phone market is a result of its entry into the LTE market and its leadership in LTE research and development.
Last year, LG launched LTE smartphones in significant markets such as the United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea. In recent weeks, the company began a global rollout of its LG Optimus G in an additional 50 countries.
Strategic Analytics says shipments of LTE smartphones are expected to increase to 275 million units this year.
LG is aiming to double its LTE smartphone penetration this year, expanding its presence in both established and emerging markets with a variety of devices.
Anand B
[email protected]
