Another handset maker wants to make its own processor. After Apple, Samsung, Huawei and perhaps LG – ZTE is planning to join this race, as well. According to Chinese media, the company will unveil its mobile processor with integrated LTE connectivity during the upcoming PT/Expo Comm China, on September 24th.
And while we understand ZTE’s long-term goals to cut costs, we can’t help but wonder whether this is the right decision for the company. You see, designing mobile chips is everything but easy. Looking at today’s landscape we have just few chip makers left, including Qualcomm, MediaTek, NVIDIA with the likes of Broadcom and TI struggling to compete. So what could ZTE do that others can’t? Hardly much.
If you recall, Huawei had problems to ship its D Quad smartphone on time due to problems with its homegrown processor. On the other hand we have Samsung which is still using Qualcomm’s processor for LTE-enabled high-end products (like Galaxy S4). So it seems that for the best phones, handset makers are best off using solutions from the existing chip makers, while sticking to its own gear for low-to-mid end devices. Considering that ZTE isn’t super-competitive in the higher echelons of the market, this could be a viable strategy. What do you think?
[Via: Unwired View]