Apple remains the world's largest 4G smartphone vendor

Unlike only a few years ago, 3G connectivity is now a common feature that most handsets possess, even low-cost feature phones and smartphones. The 4G smartphone niche market sees now a sustained growth, with major companies like Samsung, Apple, and LG offering multiple 4G-capable handsets. A recent report concerning the global LTE handset revenue by vendor shows a few interesting facts, as we are going to see below.

Strategy Analytics' Wireless Device Strategies research service released the report called "VALUE SHARE: Global LTE Handset Revenue and ASP by Vendor : Q3 2014" last week and the short version which is freely available reveals that Apple remains the leader of the 4G handset market in terms of revenue. Seeing Samsung and LG as the next ones in the top is no surprise, but it is worth mentioning that emerging Chinese brands like OPPO and Vivo entered the top 10 for the first time.

This report says "Global LTE handset industry revenues rose +57% annually during Q3 2014," which makes this niche the fastest growing part of the entire handset market. Remains to see if Apple keeps the first position, as Samsung already began adding 4G LTE support to cheaper devices like the Galaxy A3 and A5.