ZTE Aims to Be a Top-5 Phone Manufacturer This Year

China's ZTE is close to breaking into the top-5 of global handset manufacturers after it saw handset shipments jump by 40% in 2008 to reach 45 million units, according to the Taiwan based DigiTimes publication. The company had set itself a target of gaining a top-5 placement by 2011, but did accept that shrinking market share in competitors could bring that date forward.

Citing market observers, the news publication said "Through its cooperation with a number of service providers, including Vodafone, Hutchison, T-Mobile and other carriers in Italy and Australia, ZTE has expanded its product mix to include GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, Windows Mobile-enabled models, and recently touchscreen models, all targeting the low-cost segment."

Speaking last August, ZTE's vice-president of handset marketing Xiong Hui said that the company aims to increase handset production by 60% during 2009 to reach 80 million units. For comparison, the latest figures from Gartner report that Sony Ericsson, the current fifth largest vendor, sold 93.4 million phones during 2008.

Rival Chinese vendor, Huawei has set itself a target of selling 50 million mobile phones during 2009.

On the web: DigiTimes - Gartner Report

Posted to the site on 31st March 2009