Figures from the International Data Corporation (IDC) show annual smartphone shipments passing the milestone of one billion units in 2013. A new report from the market intelligence company shows worldwide smartphone shipments reaching 1,004.2 million smartphones in 2013, up 38.4% from the 2012 total of 725.3 million units.

Smartphone shipments in 2011 were 494.4 million units, which means these shipments have doubled in the past two years.

Robin Kent writes:

After initially suffering from slow pick up by consumers, 4G has begun to accelerate, and is now well on the way to the forecasted one billion subscribers by 2017. In fact EE, owner of T-Mobile and Orange, recently announced the addition of 493,000 new 4G customers to its existing base of 1.2 million.

Ericsson and Samsung have reached a multi-year agreement on global patent licenses that cover GSM, UMTS and LTE standards.

It ends complaints made by both companies to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and lawsuits in the USA.

LG Electronics has announced its financial results for 2013, along with figures for the final quarter of the year.

Annual revenue reached KRW 58.14 trillion (£32.4 billion) with net profit of KRW 222.70 billion (£124.2 million); an improvement from the previous year. Operating profits were up to KRW 1.28 trillion (£714 million) from KRW 1.22 trillion (£681 million).

Technology company Huawei and Imperial College London have agreed plans to collaborate and jointly invest in a data science lab.

It’ll be called ‘The Imperial College - Huawei Data Science Innovation Laboratory’ and will bring together experts from ICL and Huawei to look at areas such as smart cities, energy and healthcare.