A report by Strategy Analytics shows Apple as having a 27 percent share of the global LTE smartphone market. Total global subscriptions to LTE data plans is now estimated at around 50 million, a huge jump from the 9 million LTE users in 2011.
Apple’s traction in the LTE space has come at the expense of Samsung, which although retaining the top spot, dropped from a 51 percent share three months ago to 40 percent for Q3.
Others taking a hit due to the arrival of the LTE capable iPhone 5 include LG, which saw its share of the LTE market drop from 15 percent to 9 percent, and Motorola, whose share dropped from 15 percent to 7 percent.
Samsung and Apple are dominating the LTE smartphone market just as they are in the general smartphone sales numbers. Samsung was slow to get its LTE capable Galaxy S III handset out to international markets, and as a result, only the U.S. and South Korea got the LTE models. Despite this delay, Samsung currently retains the larger share of the LTE smartphone market.
