The LTE wave is slowly but steadily reaching the European smartphone and tablet world. Mobile phone providers such as T-Mobile, Vodafone, or 02 are currently extending their LTE-offers. Vodafone was the first one to offer an LTE compatible phone by releasing the HTC Velocity 4G. By now competitors have managed to catch up. The Samsung Galaxy 3 S LTE for instance will be available in T-Mobile and Vodafone stores soon.

Still, the number of sold LTE devices in Europe was about 1.9 million in the first half of 2012, a rather small number. This is not even 10% of the Asian market volume. According to US magazine Digitimes there are currently 27 million people worldwide using LTE. 40% are US citizens, 27% South Korean, 13% Japanese, and only 6% are European. The leading providers of LTE smartphones in Europe are Samsung, HTC and LG.