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ZTE to sell own-branded handsets

by Hugo Jobling on 14 July 2011, 17:47

Tags: ZTE

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Market expansion

ZTE is looking to extend the reach of its smartphone sales in a collaborative effort with Brightpoint, which will see ZTE handsets sold in the UK, under the ZTE brand. Brightpoint will be using its retail connections to put ZTE phones in a number of retail outlets.

ZTE has seen some success for its handsets in the UK already. The ZTE Blade, for instance, which was rebranded here under the Orange San Francisco brand, received a favourable reception. In total ZTE shipped 60 million handsets last year and expects to sell 80 million this year, and believes that the UK specifically, and Europe more generally, will prove a key component in that growth.

"The success of the ZTE Blade, and the overwhelmingly positive reception at this year's Mobile World Congress of the forthcoming Skate device, demonstrate that ZTE is set to become a key player in the smartphone sector," said Wu Sa, director of mobile device operations, ZTE UK. "We are working closely with Brightpoint to launch smartphones into the UK market this year. We expect ZTE to become a household name synonymous with high quality smartphones and tablets."

While, it's unlikely that the launch of its own range of handsets will stop ZTE from supplying handsets to other manufacturers, it will be interesting to see if ZTE starts to keep its premium handsets for itself, dishing out less desirable devices to its partners, or if it simply offers its own brand alongside carrier-branded mobiles. Which option ZTE takes will likely depend on the success of its handsets once they go on sale.



HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

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Reported ^.

Good to see, more competition always helps! Isn't this how HTC started?
Sounds like a good idea to me, I can see them doing well if they offer more good value for money phones.
PeterStoba
Reported ^.

Good to see, more competition always helps! Isn't this how HTC started?

started making phones that were branded by the networks o2 XDA's Orange MDA's etc, and phones that were then branded as other manufacturers, like the Motorola MPX200. Then one day decided to start selling them in their own name. And here they are, synonymous with android phones.
Just as a point of clarification - ZTE are already selling their own phones (admittedly the worst that they make) under the ZTE brand through three.

My girlfriend has the misfortune to own a ZTE Racer on three - and it's appalling. The “Blade”/San Francisco isn't really great quality compared to even HTC's cheapest devices, but it's leaps and bounds better than their Racer device.

Still, more competition is not usually a bad thing, and if ZTE are going to up their game and release more quality handsets under their own name over here, then good luck to them!


edit: HTC are more synonymous with windows mobile phones than android in my mind - since thats where their success really started; especially when they released HTC Sense which turned WM6 from a purely business class OS into one that could be used by personal consumers also. Without them, WM6 would have died a death years before it actually did.

No doubting that they make the best-in-class Android devices these days too though, and also for Windows Phone 7, albeit without their brilliant Sense UI.
I heard ZTE may be releasing a windows 7 phone also.