Strategy Analytics gave out data and predictions on December 19 that show that by the year ended 2013, 275 million LTE units will be shipped globally. Thanks to the implementation of LTE and 4G networks, devices that run in the advanced network are in demand and should see a three-time increase from 90.9 million devices shipped in 2012. Strategy Analytics forecasts the demand to be fueled by not only current handset makers but by new competitors like Amazon and Mozilla joining the race.
Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics, stated that, “We expect Amazon to launch an LTE smartphone for the U.S. market around the middle of 2013. We think Amazon will want to get a ‘mobile shopping card’ into the hands of more consumers because the retailer wars are increasingly moving from the store, PC and laptop to the smartphone.”
Mawston also talked about how taking down Apple and Samsung would not be easy for any new rivals, saying, “Apple and Samsung will dominate the global LTE smartphone market in 2013. Like the 3G market this year, 4G will be a two-horse race next year. Most LTE smartphone rivals, such as HTC or Blackberry, have a lot of catching-up to do.”
Strategy Analytics has not predicted if any one company will benefit the most from the LTE adoption rates around the world. However, Apple and Samsung dominate the market while other companies like LG, Nokia, HTC, Motorola, Blackberry, Huawei, ZTE and Pantech have all released LTE enabled devices.
It is expected that LTE and 4G services will be introduce to developed and developing countries and will encourage growth for devices around the world connected to the sector. Fast developing LTE networks in the U.S., UK, Japan, China and South Korea should be major areas of growth. Mawston says that, “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. LTE has quickly become a high-growth, high-value market that no operator, service developer, component maker or device vendor can afford to ignore.”
The sector is now starting to experience growth, however this does not mean that new players will have an easy time grabbing market share. Analyst Linda Sui says that, “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. However, we caution possible new entrants like Amazon will not find it easy to break into the fiercely competitive LTE smartphone market and they will need breakthrough products that are strongly differentiated in areas such as design, price or services.”
Amazon has never officially stated it will launch a smartphone but it does make sense considering previous products form the company including the Kindle Fire tablets, digital content and its ability to sell large numbers of consumer electronics. Mozilla has been developing a mobile OS and Mawston says that, “Mozilla has clear plans for 2G and 3G smartphones, but its 4G plans are less clear at this stage.
Source: TechCrunch
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