1 out of 4 mobile phone users is on a 4G network

During the first quarter of 2015, 23% of smartphone users worldwide said their standard connection was a 4G/LTE network, according to a study published by GlobalWebIndex.

During the first quarter of 2015, 23% of smartphone users worldwide said their standard connection was a 4G/LTE network, according to a study published by GlobalWebIndex. This is a new record for the high-speed connection, which is now almost as widespread as 3G. The latter remains the leading network technology, used by 30% of those surveyed.

According to the data from GWI, North America is the continent with the highest percentage of 4G/LTE users (36%), followed by the Asia Pacific region (23%), the Middle East/Africa (22%) and Europe (16%).

The survey also reveals that the iPhone 6/6 Plus is the device most likely to be used with a 4G connection. According to data on the percentage of 4G users by device brand, Apple tops the ranking (35%), followed by Xiaomi (31%), Sony (27%), HTC (27%), LG (26%) and Samsung (25%).

GWI conducts regular surveys of over 200,000 internet users aged 16 to 64 in 33 countries worldwide.

As of late 2014, IDATE announced at the latest Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, there were around 500 million 4G/LTE subscribers worldwide, and the figure is expected to reach 2.3 billion by the end of 2018. The US leads the ranking by number of 4G/LTE subscribers (140 million).