According to our Country Share Tracker (CST) service, global LTE handset shipments surged almost 1000% annually in Q2 2012. LTE is the mobile industry’s fastest growing technology, and one that no handset vendor, component maker or car manufacturer can afford to ignore. Apple has amply demonstrated this with its new iPhone 5 model due to launch with 4G on September 21st, 2012. South Korea witnessed astonishing growth and surpassed the United States as the biggest LTE market worldwide in the first half of the year. This is benefitting multiple 4G vendors with a solid presence in the country, such as Pantech, LG and Samsung. Apple now has a shiny new 4G iPhone that will enable it to take aim at the high-value Korean market in the coming months.