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Worldwide handset shipments decreased 1.9 percent YoY to 387.3 million units in Q3 2012, according to new data from market intelligence firm ABI Research. Worldwide smartphone shipments increased 32.8 percent  YoY to 155.5 million over the same period. Samsung retained the lead position in both handset and smartphone shipments. Underscoring its accomplishment, Samsung shipped more than double the smartphones of second place Apple.

Texas Instruments Inc. (TI), leading the industry with the most complete wireless connectivity portfolio for embedded applications,today announced that its Bluetooth® v4.0 technology-based CC2560 and CC2564 wireless devices are now available in easy-to-integrate QFN packages offered by TI and its distribution partners. TI also announced the availability of additional production-ready modules based on the two devices, as well as software and tools.

Richardson RFPD Inc. announces immediate availability and full design support capabilities for a new internally matched, low noise amplifier (LNA) in a small 2x2mm DFN package from TriQuint Semiconductor Inc. (TriQuint).

EMSCAN will showcase the world's largest real-time antenna pattern measurement tool in Amsterdam at  EuMW 2012.

As wireless connectivity attach rates increase in many markets and OEMs continue to push for cost savings, IC vendors such as Broadcom, Qualcomm, TI, Marvell, MediaTek and others, have created integrated wireless connectivity solutions to gain market share. These solutions known as Wireless Connectivity Combo ICs have already seen rapid adoption in smartphones and are now seeing strong usage growth in many other end applications including laptops, flat panel TVs, and automotive infotainment systems.

Underwriters Laboratories has chosen Anritsu as its provider for LTE telecoms equipment, becoming the first commercial independent LTE conformance test facility in the UK.

The MBA6-3.5DS45/2045 Multi-beam Hub Base Station Antenna has been developed by Cobham Antenna Systems, Microwave Antennas to enable MIMO radio system operators to meet their goal of 1 Gbps/km² anywhere within a cell.

Wi-Fi protocols have changed significantly over the last two to three years and almost every smartphone shipped this year will offer some form of Wi-Fi capabilities. However, a new Wi-Fi protocol will begin to dominate mobile devices soon. New market intelligence from ABI Research projects the IEEE 802.11ac Wi-Fi protocol will begin to conquer the existing protocols (802.11b, g, and n) in the next two to three years.

ABI Research forecasts that the total value spend of NFC mobile payments will rise from $4 billion in 2012 to $191 billion in 2017, breaking the $100 billion mark in 2016. Mobile payments and more importantly the convergence between payment types - proximity, P2P and online - stored on a single NFC handset will be the initial trigger  driving market convergence across a host of other markets, including ticketing, retail, loyalty, and access control.

Cisco remains on the top spot of the enterprise Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) equipment market with 36 percent of the world market share followed by ZTE and Aruba based on shipments. Cisco has a dominating presence in North America and European markets, but is increasingly losing ground from close competition from ZTE in APAC, Latin America, and MEA.