The success of Samsung’s Galaxy Note hybrid smartphone-tablet has not gone unnoticed. ZTE, the world’s fourth largest mobile phone manufacturer, plans to launch two similar ‘phablets’ this year. Whether these will hit North America or not remains to be seen. “We want to come up with the next generation of a Galaxy Note-type product – a combo product of handsets and tablets,” said Lv Qianhao, head of handset strategy at ZTE without revealing any details about either device.
These devices as well as their successors could help the company reach the goal of shipping 100 million smartphones a year by 2015. It sold 15 million last year and sales could reach 50 million this year. As Reuters out, ZTE faces the challenge of having to improve its brand recognition if it wants to be successful. “No one really knows ZTE outside China,” said one analyst.
While ZTE is planning to upgrade its Blade and Skate Android smartphones rather than introduce new models, it also has devices such as the quad-core ZTC Era smartphone for the higher end of the market.
Read more: Reuters