ZTE, a Chinese handset maker wants to get in on the “phablet” success of Samsung’s Galaxy Note. Why wouldn’t they? Last numbers showed that Samsung sold over 5 million of them in 5 months! That’s a pretty good number, considering in the United States it is only available on one carrier- AT&T. As an aside, every time I whip out my Note, my friends start drooling and wishing it would come to their carrier. Maybe, just maybe ZTE can help them out.
ZTE started out by making low-end smartphones for carriers to put their names on. They are looking to enter the high-end smartphone market, and go head to head with Apple and Samsung. Right now, ZTE is the world’s number 4 handset manufacturer. They have said that by 2015 it could be shipping 100 million smartphones a year. A hit in the combination market could help them break into success enjoyed by Samsung, Motorola and HTC. Currently in the US Market, they have the presence with devices such as the ZTE Score (MetroPCS) , the ZTE Fury (Sprint) and the ZTE Optik Tablet (Sprint).
ZTE plans to release two phablets this year, according to Lv Qianhao, head of handset strategy. They might not enjoy the immediate success of the Galaxy Note however, due to brand awareness outside of China. In addition to handsets, according to executive director He Shiyou, ZTE will also double sales of their tablet PC’s.