By ZTE was one of the few companies who wasn’t shy about telling us what to expect from them at this year’s CES ahead of time. We’d known for quite some time that the ZTE Grand S would be a nice high-end offering, and the OEM confirmed those feelings when it let us get some hands-on time with the device this past week.
As excited as we were to see the phone, however, we were left wondering whether or not this device would ever make its way outside of Asia. Whether or not we see a particular ZTE phone extend past the oceans of the world tends to be a crap shoot, but ZTE knows it must approach the mobile market in a more global mindset if it wants to ascend to the likes of Samsung, HTC, Motorola and more.
Well, ZTE has confirmed that the Grand S would indeed be headed to America, but the company didn’t offer any details other than it would arrive at some point later this year. No carrier has been tied to it just yet, though given ZTE’s healthy relationship with Sprint we imagine Sprint — or one of its PAYG subsidiaries — we wouldn’t be surprised to see it land there.
Of course, it’s not even guaranteed that a carrier will pick this up. Some phones tend to be sold unlocked through retailers if the OEMs can’t find a carrier partner. We won’t jump to conclusions and say ZTE hasn’t found anyone yet, but as it stands we don’t have any information whatsoever. We’ll be waiting for more word on its arrival down the line, but in the meantime you can find our hands-on look at the device here and see if this phone could fit into the “grand” scheme of your world (see what I did there?).
[via Cnet]
Later this year = already dated by the time it gets approved and a carrier can market it. Oh also, a carrier won’t market it by itself. ZTE has NO marketing presence outside of China. basically, as good as this phone may be in pre-pro, it won’t do so well by the time it hits the states.
It looks pretty sweet. Won’t hold my breath waiting for a VZW announcement though.
ZTE has other devices on American providers, there is no reason this won’t be picked up quick, especially if they hit the right price point for these specs.
Probably end up being picked up by Boost Mobile.
March 17th for t-mobile…. If its the ZTE Mimosa
I would love to get this phone if it comes to tmobile hell yea.
I see Sprint picking this up as a sequel to the ZTE Flash.
ZTE and Huawiae can keep there products out of the US.