Smartphones are getting faster, with 35 percent sold during the fourth quarter of 2011 equipped with 4G connectivity, up from 6 percent during the same quarter a year earlier, according to new data from market research firm NPD Group.
That, of course, depends on how you define 4G: HSPA+, WiMAX, or LTE? Twenty-two percent of smartphones sold during the quarter were HSPA+ devices, making it the most popular "4G" network technology, NPD said. HSPA+, offered by carriers T-Mobile and AT&T, saw a "tremendous boost" in the quarter thanks to the launch of the iPhone 4S, which was the top-selling HSPA+ device during the quarter.
LTE handsets accounted for 7 percent of the smartphone market, up from zero the year earlier, thanks to Verizon's launch of the first commercially deployed LTE network in 2010, NPD said. The research group also found that consumers strongly associate LTE with 4G. Twenty-six percent of those who purchased an LTE phone in 2011 were seeking 4G technology, compared to just 9 percent of all smartphone buyers. The HTC Thunderbolt was the top-selling LTE device.
Meanwhile, WiMax, launched by Sprint in the summer of 2009 as an alternative to LTE, accounted for 6 percent of the market at the end of the year, down from 10 percent during the previous quarter, NPD said. The HTC EVO was the top-selling WiMax device.
"HSPA+, which has combined high throughput with practical power efficiency, has been a compelling evolutionary 4G upgrade option for carriers upgrading GSM networks," Ross Rubin, executive director of Connected Intelligence for NPD, said in a statement. "With all major U.S. carriers committing to LTE as their 4G future, it is clearly the cellular network technology that will determine the baseline for the next generation of advanced smartphones."
The debate over what constitutes 4G made headlines recently when iPhone 4S smartphones updated to iOS 5.1 displayed the "4G" icon, despite the fact that Apple smartphones are still technically 3G. Why did this happen? AT&T considers its HSPA+ network – a speedy upgrade to AT&T's HSPA-based "3G" network – a "4G" network. AT&T's 4G LTE network went live in late 2011, expanding to 11 new markets just this week, but the iPhone is not a 4G LTE device.
T-Mobile today announced that it is expanding its HSPA+ network to eight new markets. The carrier last month said it will upgrade to 4G LTE in 2013.
The confusion over 4G technologies and the speeds they provide is one of the reasons PCMag conducts its Fastest Mobile Networks testing. " In last year's tests, we generally found that Verizon's 4G LTE network was the fastest, followed by T-Mobile 4G HSPA+, AT&T 4G HSPA+, Sprint 4G WiMAX, MetroPCS 4G LTE, Verizon 3G, and Cricket 3G, with Sprint 3G pulling up the rear," wrote PCMag's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan.
For more, see 3G vs. 4G: What's the Difference?