Can ZTE Overtake LG in the US Mobile Market?

ZTE certainly hopes so. As a matter of fact, the Chinese tech giant is hoping to replace LG as the number three smartphone vendor in the United States in a year’s time. But as explained by Jeff Yee, the vice president of technology planning and partnerships at ZTE, becoming the third largest phone maker in American is just one part of a bigger plan. 

According to Yee, ZTE is also planning to expand into building stuff beyond the usual smartphone devices. Indeed, it is also looking to introduce wearable devices and other connected gadgets related to the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT). As an example, Yee cites the SyncUp Drive hotspot for vehicles, which ZTE has collaborated with with major US wireless carrier T-Mobile. It was late last year when T-Mobile had first unveiled the partnership with ZTE, as well as with Mojio, a connected car startup firm. Envisioned as a traveling Wi-Fi hotspot for connected cars, SyncUp Drive can plug into a vehicle’s ODB-II (on board diagnostics) port in order to collect data with regards to driving habits and location tracking, and even offer reminders for maintenance and check ups. 

In the field of IoT, ZTE right now is busy manufacturing IoT modules and proceeding to offer them to other mobile manufacturers. Some industry watchers are even saying that the company may be poised to compete with other IoT module makers like Sierra Wireless.

Of course, ZTE’s main focus is on the mobile front. To date, the company is the number four phone maker in America, enjoying an 11.5 percent share in the market, behind only the aforementioned LG, and clear industry leaders Apple and Samsung. But that ranking could change soon, especially in light of the new partnership deal that ZTE has struck with Verizon Wireless, the biggest mobile operator in the country. ZTE is now offerings its budget friendly Cymbal LTE flip phone via the Big Red’s prepaid channels. The Cymbal lineup may not be as popular as iPhone or Galaxy devices, but the phone does give ZTE an opportunity to start selling its devices through the number one wireless carrier in the US.

Although ZTE has its own premium smartphone offering (i.e. the Axon family of handsets, which is sold unlocked in America), it has also managed to find some success selling cheap devices geared for prepaid users, especially customers of Cricket Wireless (the prepaid arm of AT&T), MetroPCS (T-Mobile’s prepaid brand), and TracFone. Much has been said about how the prepaid market has grown in the last few quarters, and ZTE is in the thick of it, or at least was first to take full advantage of the growing market in America compared to other fellow Chinese phone makers like Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi.