Qualcomm shot up 7% in late trading after beating its revenue consensus by about $200 M and delivering perky, 11% growth in MSM chipsets YoY. Perhaps the most fascinating part of Qualcomm's commentary was its revision for the 2012 shipment volumes of 3G/4G devices. Qualcomm has unique visibility to global 3G device volumes because of its broad chip client base and its licensing agreements with all major device vendors.

It's a big source of relief that Qualcomm did not downgrade its estimate of 3G device sales in Europe for 2012 - despite the softening consumer demand in the region, EU seems to be avoiding a major slump for the time being. Fascinatingly, Qualcomm revised North American device shipments down by hefty 15 M units - implying only 8 M unit growth to 208 M units from 2011 to 2012. Yet at the same time, European volumes are still set to grow from 173 M to 185 M units.

There aren't many industry observers who have anticipated European smartphone and tablet growth to be faster in 2012 than North American gadget growth. Could this be a sign of the magnitude of Apple's capacity problems? Apple has a bigger market share in North America than in Europe.

At the same time, China/India 3G device volume estimate for 2012 is now upgraded by 10 M units to 210 M units in 2012. This would be 2 M units above North American unit volume. Everyone knows that China and India are massive mobile phone markets - but their transitions from 2G to 3G have been a tad sluggish.Now it looks like 3G  phone and tablet sales in Asia may be accelerating just as North American growth slows down. This could be read as a great sign for Samsung, whose Asian dominance has been fortified by HTC's recent tail spin.