Global sales of LG Electronics' LTE smartphones have reached three million units, positioning it among the frontrunners in the competitive LTE market, the Korean company announced today.

"Reaching the three million milestone this early in LTE?s global roll-out is a strong sign that customers are on board with our LTE strategy," said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. "Improving the user experience is at the core of LG's vision and we'll continue to take leadership in the LTE market by offering features that offer clear customer benefits."

LG plans to further expand its LTE leadership in 2012 as the number of countries offering LTE smartphones from LG expands from 10 to 20 markets by the end of the year.

At the Mobile World Congress in February, LG stated its goal to sell 8 million LTE phones and a total of 35 million smartphones this year.

According to Strategy Analytics, the worldwide leader in handset sales for the first quarter of 2012 was Samsung with a 25 percent market share. Nokia was the runner-up with 22.4 percent, while LG had a mere 3.7 percent.

In LTE phones alone, LG is third with 13 percent, but Samsung is still the leader marking 57 percent in market share, while Motorola is second at 17 percent.

LG made its debut in the LTE market with the release of the Revolution model released in May 2011.



LG Optimus LTE was also launched in October 2011 and exceeded salesof one million units within the first 100 days, making it the most popular LTE-capable phone.

LG Optimus Vu was launched in Korea in February 2012. The smartphone featrues a 5-inch IPS display and 4:3 aspect ratio and tt 8.5mm, it is the slimmest LTE phone currently on the market.

LG Optimus LTE Tag followed the launch of the Optimus Vu model and offers Tag+, a feature which uses Near Field Communication (NFC) to interact with special stickers that change the phone's settings automatically.

LG's latest LTE device is the LG Optimus LTE II, the the an LTE smartphone with 2 GB RAM.

According to a report by Jefferies & Company, LG is the global leader in LTE patents with ownership of 23 percent of approximately 1,400 LTE patents filed worldwide worth almost USD 8 billion.