Report: LTE to become prevalent smartphone technology in 2017

Shipments of LTE-enabled handsets are expected to reach around 220 million units in 2013, or 12 per cent of total smartphone shipments, according to a new report from CCS Insight. Of these LTE phones, 93 per cent will be sold in Western Europe, North America and developed markets in Asia-Pacific. CCS Insight said its optimism about the transition to LTE devices has increased because chipset competition is set to intensify in 2014, leading to a decline in LTE smartphone prices. "We expect LTE smartphones to become available at new low prices in 2015, displacing WCDMA handsets faster than we previously thought," CCS Insight said.

As a result, the firm said it has increased its forecast for LTE-enabled mobile phones for 2015 to 2017. "We predict 0.73 billion LTE-enabled handsets to be shipped in 2017, or 34 percent of the total mobile phone volume," CCS Insight said. "For comparison, only 31 per cent of the mobile phones sold in 2017 will have WCDMA or HSPA as their highest technology." Total smartphone shipments will exceed 1 billion units in 2013, and are expected to reach 1.70 billion units in 2017. Report