Samsung and LG to Launch LTE Handsets Next Year

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is one of the 4G technologies that are expected to become quite popular this year and in the years to come. A lot of industry players have announced plans to support it – in the detriment of WiMAX, another 4G standard –, including wireless carriers around the globe, as well as mobile phone makers.

And while Nokia, the largest phone vendor in the world, is one of the companies known to support LTE, we learn now that Korean handset makers Samsung and LG might also come to the market in the near future with their own LTE-compatible devices, at least this is what Taiwanese industry sources cited by DigiTimes state.

The two companies are expected to unveil their first LTE mobile phones next year, in the same time frame Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia intends to release its first devices that will support the technology. And while the world's first three phone vendors move into the area, others are reported to plan on making the step as well, including some Taiwan-based handset producers (perhaps HTC), yet their LTE devices won't be here until the first half of 2011, sources say.

4G is the next technology that the mobile phone industry adopted after 3G, and a wide range of wireless operators are expected to roll out networks that will support the new standard. Sprint is the carrier that considers WiMAX a successful technology, while most of the other wireless service provides have moved towards LTE.

Verizon and MetroPCS are two of the mobile phone operators that already announced plans to deploy LTE networks in 2010, and Rogers also joined them. Handsets that will work on the 4G networks should also come to the market at that time, and Nokia, Samsung and LG will probably unveil their first LTE devices as soon as the networks are up and running.