LTE became the most common technology certified in mobile devices in 2017, overtaking 3G for the first time, according to the Global Certification Forum, the group responsible for certifying mobile devices for radio standards.
The GCF's annual report reveals that total certifications increased by 10 percent to 521 mobile devices in 2017, from 57 different manufacturers. A total of 85 percent of the devices certified incorporated LTE, up from 76 percent in 2016. LTE supplanted 3G (UMTS/WCDMA), which itself had only ousted GSM as the most certified mobile technology in 2016.
The GCF enables the certification of LTE devices operating in 23 FDD bands and six TDD bands, including carrier aggregation of the various bands. Carrier aggregation was certified in 216 devices in 2017, equal to 49 percent of LTE devices and 42 percent of all certified devices. That's up from just 7 percent of devices with carrier aggregation in 2016.
TD-LTE was a feature of 40 percent of all certified devices, while VoLTE was certified in 260 devices, or 59 percent of the LTE devices.
According to separate data from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) in February, a total of 10,665 LTE devices from 602 suppliers have been launched to date. That's up 12 percent from November 2017.
