US consumers are jumping on the 4G bandwagon in increasing numbers. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, about 22% of smartphones sold in the US in the second quarter of 2011 support 4G speeds (defined here as HSPA+, WiMAX, and LTE). This is up from 3% a year ago. And HTC appears to be the manufacturer benefiting the most from the trend as it sold 62 percent of these devices.
“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. “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.”
Not surprisingly, HTC had the best-selling 4G smartphones on three different carriers: EVO 4G (Sprint), Inspire 4G (AT&T), and Thunderbolt (Verizon).
Following HTC as the top 4G smartphone manufacturers, based on US consumer sales in Q2 2011 are Samsung (22%), Motorola (11%) and LG (4%).