You may not have heard of ZTE but as of today they are officially the 5th biggest smartphone manufacturer after shipping a whopping number of smartphone handsets in the second quarter of this year.
The relatively unknown manufacturer has posted the information in a press release celebrating breaking into the top 5 manufacturers across the globe. Now, this is no easy feat as looking at the top brands who come above them – Samsung, Nokia, Apple and HTC – shows just how well ZTE are doing.
Brands like LG, Motorola, Toshiba, BlackBerry and Sony are some of the companies that ZTE have beaten in sales terms.
The brand who suffers from this usurper is none other than Research in Motion (RIM), or BlackBerry as they are more commonly known, who’s continued woes see it slipping into 6th place.
Additionally ZTE has maintained fourth position in overall handset shipments, and after shipping over 15 million units in 2011, making the company the second fastest growing smartphone maker ever.
The IDC data showed that ZTE has achieved a global market share of 5.2 percent and with the handset maker currently expanding into more overseas markets (France, the United Kingdom and the United States) it seems they may be able to keep the upward trend.
ZTE’s EVP and Head of the Terminal Division, Mr. He Shiyou states:
“ZTE’s great smartphone performance in 2012 in international markets has been a major contributor to our consistent expansion, and is a demonstration of the depth and strength of our R & D,”
“We have moved into the middle to high-end smartphone market with the recent launch of the ZTE Grand X in countries including China, Turkey and the UK, and we will continue to build our handset capabilities in the middle and high range sectors, while still delivering great lower-end smartphones like the ZTE Kis.”
Looking forward ZTE are currently only a small 0.5 percent behind HTC who are fourth in the top five, then only 1.4 percent behind third place Nokia.
We are all for competition from smaller companies as it means we get the best smartphone available. If you’re looking to get familiar with the new world number 5, why not check out their most recently launched phones, the Grand X and the Kis.
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