The global market for long-term evolution mobile phones is expected to surge four-fold to around 32 million units in 2012, fueled by strong consumer demand, an industry report said Thursday.

The report by Strategy Analytics, a global research and consulting firm, predicted market size will expand an average 103.5 percent annually up till 2016 as mobile phone users seek devices with better data processing capabilities.

The expansion is also expected to increase the market share of fourth generation LTE technology handsets from 0.5 percent of all mobile phones sold worldwide this year to 15.6 percent in 2016.

For 2011, SA predicted that sales of LTE handsets will reach 8 million, up from just 100,000 last year

It added that 4G LTE will likely succeed mobile phone technologies that are currently in widescale use, such as global standard for mobile communications, code division multiple access and wideband code division multiple access.

The Europe, Asia and America-based market researcher said that sales of LTE phones in South Korea could grow an average 77.8 percent annually up to 2016. For this year sales could reach 70,000 units, but this should rise to 3 million next year and 13.3 million in 2016.

Market watchers said that the expansion of the LTE market will also benefit South Korean companies such as LG Electronics Co., which controls key technologies in the communications system.

South Korea, in addition, is expected to be one of the forerunners in creating a LTE infrastructure, along with the United States and Japan.

SA’s latest report, meanwhile, said that the worldwide market for all mobile phones will reach 1.8 billion units in 2016 from around 1.6 billion in 2012.

There will be a falloff in sales growth in the coming years brought on by general slowdown in the global economy and because most mobile phone users have already upgraded to latest third generation devices, it added. 

(Yonhap News)