11.5 million smartphones shipped in second quarter make ZTE the world’s No. 4 vendor in Strategy Analytics study; ZTE to unveil self-developed 4G chipset in September

1st August 2013, Shenzhen – ZTE shipped 11.5 million smartphones in the second quarter, a year-on-year increase of 79%, vaulting the maker of Grand S and Grand Memo to fourth position globally with 5% market share, according to data from research company Strategy Analytics.

The strong sales performance, which made ZTE the highest-placed Chinese smartphone manufacturer, is built on the company’s commitment to design excellence and customer satisfaction. ZTE will leverage its strengthening position in the global smartphone market to develop products focused on three key segments: 4G, high-end devices, and phones based on newer platforms such as Intel chipsets and the Firefox operating system.

To fuel ZTE’s development of high-performance products, the company plans to unveil its self-developed chipset to power 4G devices at the PT/EXPO COMM CHINA 2013 conference in Beijing in September. The ZTE chipset will be the first in the industry to attain 4G standards in communications and data throughput, heralding a breakthrough in 4G technology globally.

Since ZTE began its strategy revamp in mobile devices in 2011, the company has evolved its product lineup, offering flagship devices such as Grand Memo, Grand S, N986 and U988s for the high-end market, and diversifying from lower-cost products such as ZTE Blade and ZTE Skate. ZTE has one of the industry’s most comprehensive range of Android products, featuring devices with 4-inch, 5-inch and 5.7 inch HD displays, in addition to 5 megapixel, 8 megapixel and 13 megapixel cameras.

Through the company’s collaboration with Intel and Firefox, ZTE is well-positioned to take advantage of the growth in the non-Android segment of the global smartphone market. In July, ZTE and Intel jointly launched the GEEK smartphone, powered by Intel’s 2.0GHz dual-core Atom processor Z2580, with Intel’s hyper-threading technology and Turbo Boost feature providing superior multitasking performance and power efficiency. The GEEK smartphone further strengthened ZTE’s partnership with Intel, after the two companies collaborated to offer the Grand X IN smartphone in 2012.

This year, ZTE and Firefox collaborated to offer the ZTE Open, featuring open Web technology and support for HTML 5 applications in a new operating platform. As the first Firefox phone, and featuring ZTE’s intelligent offline search technology, ZTE Open has first-mover advantage and generated positive user reviews from customers.

ZTE will continue to execute its multi-pronged product strategy, based on the well-proven “Purchasing Management Model” concept, to maintain healthy and sustainable growth in the smartphone business, and deliver positive financial returns.

Table 1: Global smartphone vendor shipments in 2013Q2 (Strategy Analytics)

Table 2: Global smartphone vendor market share in 2013Q2