Shipments of cellular modems, which enable laptops and other portable devices to connect to the internet, are expected to exceed 46 million this year. ABI Research says the market is being led by Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, with the USB modem rapidly becoming more popular than the PC card format. Embedded (‘built-in’) modems are expected to overtake both USB and PC Card formats, although the WiFi-enabled ‘mobile router’ could slow this adoption.
At the end of last year, Huawei accounted for 45% of all units shipped while ZTE had a 21% market share. 82% of all mobile modems are now USB, yet embedded module shipments are forecast to exceed USB modem shipments by early 2013. [Press release]