LTE in the new iPhone and growing around the world

Apple supports LTE in its iPhone 6 – The recent launch of the Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has created a massive wave of interest with a staggering rush to pre-purchase. For operators, there is a significant feature included – LTE. The device is LTE-ready for some 200 operators in terms of the frequency bands supported. Reports from the launch also indicate it is VoLTE ready for trials in Europe and the LTE Advanced (LTE-A) chip will be included for Korea and the US and one of the key features in the device will be a seamless handover between WiFi and cellular calls.

LTE growth – Reports from CCS Insight and GSMA intelligence show that LTE uptake is accelerating around the world. After perhaps a slow start in Europe, uptake has accelerated in 2014. At the end of 2Q 2014 there were a total of 45.5 million subscribers and this number is expected to exceed 100 million in 3Q 2015. Leaders for LTE are still the US, South Korea and Japan, who collectively account for over 70% of the world total of mobile subscribers. In the US, Verizon has 76% of its data now delivered over LTE and in South Korea, over 60% of all mobile subscribers are on LTE. Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region, we can look to Singapore and Australia to be the most rapid market developers.

Source: CCS Insight and GSMAi