Telecom Lead India: LTE/4G smartphone shipments will reach 275 million units in 2013.

Companies leading the growth spurt will include Apple, Samsung, LG and others.

LTE smartphone shipments will triple from 90.9 million units in 2012 to 275.0 million in 2013.

Major countries driving LTE growth next year will include the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, China and South Korea.

Multiple operators, such as Verizon Wireless, Everything Everywhere and NTT Docomo, are aggressively expanding their LTE networks.

Key vendors leading the push into LTE smartphones will include Apple, Samsung, LG, Nokia, HTC, Motorola, Blackberry, Huawei, ZTE and Pantech. Popular LTE smartphones will include Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S3.

“It is clear that 2013 will be the year of 4G. LTE smartphone shipments worldwide will exceed a quarter-billion units for the first time. Multiple operators and multiple phone vendors will be launching dozens of LTE models across numerous countries worldwide,” said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics.

The LTE smartphone market has become highly valuable and we believe it will eventually attract new entrants seeking a slice of the 4G pie, such as Amazon or Mozilla. New entrants like Amazon will not find it easy to break into the competitive LTE smartphone market and they will need breakthrough products that are strongly differentiated in areas such as design, price or services.

Exhibit 1: Global LTE Smartphone Shipments Forecast in 2013 1