ZTE is another one of those companies that you might have heard a lot about recently in spite of not actually knowing much about them. Like so many recent OEMs emerging from China, ZTE are going from strength to strength and increasing at a rapid rate. If you live in the US then you might be very surprised to hear that they were recently accredited with being the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in the US and the fifth largest in the World. With that in mind, it should not come as much of a surprise to know that ZTE like releasing smartphones and they do so with vigor. Only back in September we heard about the ZTE ZMAX and this was quickly followed in November by the news of the bezel-less ZTE Nubia Z9. In fact, with their increasing growth and view to making even more of an international presence felt in other countries, ZTE recently rebranded and changed their logo.
The latest news from ZTE is that they are now gearing up to release their newest budget smartphone in the US. The ZTE Imperial II will be available soon via U.S. Cellular. As the name suggests this is the follow-up device to the ZTE Imperial which was also made available in the US via U.S. Cellular. Not to mention, it also seemed to be quite a good seller for both the manufacturer and carrier. In fact, according to ZTE, they are releasing the sequel in the US due to popular demand for “more smartphone screen for the money”. As such the Imperial II will be available on U.S. Cellular for only $149 and will be available (at this price) off-contract making the device a really affordable smartphone option. If you do go down the contract route then you will be able to pick the Imperial II up for free.
So what do you get for $149 off contract? Well, quite a lot it would seem. The ZTE Imperial II will come with a 5″ qHD screen. Inside the Imperial II will come equipped with 1GB RAM along with a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor (clocking at 1.2GHz). In addition, the device will offer 8GB internal storage as standard and also a microSD card slot for additional storage (up to 32GB). Additional features will include a 5MP rear-facing camera along with a 2,300mAh battery. The device will also offer WiFi, Bluetooth and 4G LTE support. Lastly, the device will come running on Android 4.4.2. If you are thinking about picking the ZTE Imperial II up, unfortunately, no firm details were given on when the device will be available to purchase.
