Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE is planning to follow the example of its competitors Motorola and Xiaomi to sell its premium smartphones exclusively through e-commerce platforms, India Times reports. The company tries to emulate the success of the above two manufacturers, which have become extremely popular in several Asian countries, despite being available through webshops only.
According to specialists, the perception of Chinese technology has changed a lot following the success of Xiaomi and Lenovo. Xiaomi, founded in 2010, has grown into the third largest smartphone maker in the world, overtaking brands like LG and HTC, and plans to overtake its last two competitors, Apple and Samsung, within a decade. The company has taken advantage of the massive population of its home country, but has extended beyond its borders to other massively populated areas like India for example. Today Apple and Samsung have a global market share of 37% on the smartphone market, while Xiaomi only has 5.2%.
ZTE, another major Chinese manufacturer of electronics, did not make it to the top five this year. Not that this would be its primary business – the company is most active in the production of wireless, exchange, access, optical transmission and data telecommunication equipment, selling its products both under its own name or OEM. Its position is strong in its home market, but globally it could only make it into the top 10 this year. It has recently signed a hardware partnership with Microsoft for the Windows Phone platform. The company reports a surge in smartphone deliveries observed in Q3-2014, and a 15% increase year-on-year when it comes to its global smartphone sales. The largest growth of ZTE handset sales was observed in the US – a hotspot for the company – where the shipments increased by 40 per cent compared to the last year.