Chinese infrastructure vendor and mobile handset maker ZTE has told Reuters that by the end of this year they plan on bringing several LTE devices to the American market. ZTE’s U.S. CEO Cheng Lixin specifically said devices and not smartphones, so we’re thinking that could mean something either really boring, like a couple of USB modems, or something really exciting, like a tablet running Google Honeycomb. The news gets better though, ZTE has also said that in early 2012 they plan on launching a Windows Phone running Mango in the USA. That same Windows Phone will come to Europe during the second half of this year, so we’ll try to get a review out for you guys before it crosses the pond. Last year ZTE sold 3 million smartphones, most of which ran Android, but this year they’re planning to hit 12 million, which is a ridiculously impressive feat if they manage to make it happen. As of Q4 2010 ZTE managed to become the world’s 4th largest handset vendor by volume, right behind Nokia, Samsung, and LG, so maybe they’ve got a shot at hitting their goal of 400% growth.
Now before you get all excited, note that ZTE devices typically don’t have the best build quality in the world, and frankly you’re better off spending that little bit extra and getting something from either Huawei, the other huge Chinese mobile company, or Samsung, who can offer their hardware for a lower cost compared to everyone else because they actually make many of the components that go inside mobile phones. This makes us wonder, how will consumers decide which Windows Phone to buy if they’re all basically the same, with Microsoft even dictating minimum hardware requirements? Will Nokia loyalists pay more for the Nokia brand or just go with something from ZTE for likely 20% to 30% less? We’ll have to wait and find out.
[Via: Engadget]