ZTE targets the iPhone and Galaxy S3 – Will the Grand S or Nubia Z5 be their weapon of choice?
A few days ago we showed you guys a few images of the ZTE Grand S, a sexy new offering from the Chinese manufacturer with a spec sheet that would make even the highest-end of smartphones blush. Said to be shown off at CES in just a few weeks, the Grand S will come equipped with a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of multitasking RAM, high-res 13MP camera, and a next-gen 5-inch 1080p full HD display. Impressive? You betcha, especially coming from a company who’s mostly known around these parts for their low-end hardware.
When we showed you a glimpse of the device yesterday, the question many of our readers had was simply: will this device even hit stateside? Well, perhaps the Wall Street Journal‘s interview with ZTE Executive Vice President He Shiyou can shed a little light on the subject. According to He, ZTE isn’t satisfied with their current 5% market share in the US, and they’re looking to go head-to-head with Apple and Samsung for title of the world’s top 3 smartphone brands. World wide, ZTE ships 7.5 million smartphones, just 4.2% shy of Apple’s market share.
In the interview, Shiyou expects that the US will be the key to their success with hopes that it will soon become their #1 source of revenue. Of course, these are words we’ve heard before. It was in January of this year ZTE made similar statements, and the most we saw from them stateside were devices like the Sprint Flash and Sprint Fury.
So, just how can ZTE hope to compete against high-end devices like the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3? Well, the ZTE Grand S could be just the device to take ’em to the top (or at least the #3 spot). Of course, we know a handset maker can only get so far without the blessing of the US’ top for carriers. ZTE is well aware of this and one of their priorities will be working on improving their relationship with our carriers to become a “strategic partner.”
There’s also the ZTE’s new Nubia sub-brand in which we saw the wonderfully spec’d Nubia Z5 officially announced just a few days ago. You may have noticed carriers like Sprint tend to rebrand ZTE’s devices as their own, and while we can’t be sure if it’s because of brand unfamiliarity with consumers or perhaps the company’s shaky past with the US government, perhaps Nubia can get them past all that. With cutting edge design and high-end hardware, Nubia seems like the perfect brand for ZTE to swoop in and become successful in the US. If you’ve seen the hardware specs on the Nubia Z5, you probably want the device to come stateside as much as I do.
We’ll have to wait and see what 2013 has in store for ZTE, with their showing at CES giving us a first glimpse at what they may have planned. In the crowded smartphone market, we could always use one more Android OEM to shake things up and ZTE/Nubia looks like they could be the ones to do just that. Anyone else excited at the prospect of ZTE Grand S or Nubia Z5 coming stateside?