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October 17, 2011

HTC Tops in 4G Smartphone Sales in Q2 of 2011: The NPD Group

According to NPD's monthly “Mobile Phone Track” service, more than one in five smartphones purchased in the second quarter (Q2) of 2011 were capable of running at 4G speeds.

The research finds HTC ranks as the top smartphone 4G manufacturer in Q2 2011 with 62 percent market share, followed by Samsung with 22 percent. Motorola ranked third with 11 percent market share while LG contributed only 4 percent to become the fourth leader in terms of 4G smartphone sales in Q2 2011.

Meanwhile, Sprint is the carrier with highest share of smartphones on 4G. Sprint is the only carrier for which 4G handsets comprised the majority of smartphone sales.

NPD considers smartphones to be 4G if they support LTE, WiMAX or HSPA+ with downlink speeds of 14 Mbps/s or greater, according to officials at NPD Group.

The report finds that sales of 4G smartphones reached 22 percent of overall smartphone sales, up from only 3 percent of smartphone sales a year ago.

“In the year since the debut of the EVO 4G, the number of 4G smartphone models has exploded,” said Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD, in a statement. “Carriers have great incentive to promote handsets that showcase their network investments and command premium data rates. 4G is ushering in the era of video on the go.”

During the second quarter, HTC had top three best-selling 4G-smartphone models on three different carriers: EVO 4G, Inspire 4G, and Thunderbolt.

“Carriers have chosen to market 4G with different tradeoffs for handsets,” said Rubin. “While HSPA+, for example, has not achieved the fastest wireless speeds in the market, it has allowed carriers to build portfolios quickly with benefits for form factors, battery life and price.”

NPD’s “Mobile Phone Track” is based consumer tracking of U.S. consumers, aged 18 and older. NPD does not track corporate/enterprise mobile phone purchases.

With 4G-enabled smartphones being the new trend, Apple’s recent launch of iPhone 4S without 4G capabilities surprised many Apple fans. However, industry analyst firm IHS iSuppli said Apple’s decision to postpone the launch of 4G phone is reasonable in many ways.

IHS expects that Apple will launch an LTE-capable iPhone 5 when an affordable chipset solution allowing a thinner form factor is available. Apple is likely to introduce the iPhone 5 in late 2012, or in mid-2013, according to IHS.

The research firm further said Apple’s incremental approach is a right decision. 3G services offer adequate speed for iPhone 4 to perform. Considering the current spectrum and uplink speed constraints for LTE, there is no appreciable benefits to adopting LTE and hence iPhone 5 with 4G.



Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for MobilityTechzone. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell


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