CC image courtesy of Jordiferrer on Flickr
Chinese firm ZTE Corp is to move into the higher end of the market with increased 4G shipments as it looks to increase margins and profitability.
Reuters reports the world’s fifth largest smartphone maker built its global market share with lower end mobile phones, but is now looking to products such as its Grand Memo phablet and Grand S smartphone to challenge market leaders Samsung and Apple.
“We’re working towards a goal of 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) gadgets making up 40-50 percent of our total consumer devices shipments by 2015,” ZTE head of handset strategy Lv Qianhao told reporters. “The percentage is quite small now – about 4 percent.”
ZTE further plans to increase its global profile by sponsoring a US National Basketball Association (NBA) team later this year, executives said, as the company looks to increase its market share in the US.
“We have plans to sponsor an NBA team that Chinese consumers will say wow to, but we are still negotiating and nothing has been decided,” spokesman David Dai said.
The company has been working with China Mobile Ltd to 4G trials across the country.
