Breaking into the smartphone market in the United States is no easy task. Xiaomi has struggled with a way to approach this in the past, and Huawei is working with AT&T to get their devices in their stores as well. LeEco tried it recently and, among other issues they've faced, have not come out successful in their first attempt. While ZTE has been taking a different approach with the United States market, a new report shows their efforts have paid off for them.
Many enthusiasts of Android, and even some average customers, have their eye on particular types and styles of devices. Some only buy phones from wireless carriers, others make their decision based on specs and/or pricing. This leaves a lot of devices here in the United States that many simply refuse to give attention because of where the device comes from. The pre-paid MVNO segment is one of these markets and it is actually a big retail channel for some smartphone OEMs.
ZTE has a strong presence in that market as they offer low-spec and affordable devices to these companies so they can offer them free or at a low price to new MVNO customers. Thanks to the work they've been doing in the United States for the last 10+ years, the company was able to increase shipments by 36% during the second quarter of this year. According to a report from market research firm Counterpoint Technology, this was around 4.8 million devices for the quarter.
Looking back to the 1st quarter of the year, ZTE reportedly has 11.5% of the market here in the United States. This put them in fourth place behind Apple, Samsung and LG. ZTE is well aware of how competitive the smartphone market is in the U.S., and they've actually been losing ground in their home country of China (which was at 7.8% during Q1 of this year).
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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