ZTE to cut smartphone models by half

ZTE, the world's fifth-largest telecommunications equipment supplier, will cut half of its smartphone models available in the domestic market this year, while expecting total shipments in the world's biggest smartphone market to remain stable, a company official said yesterday.

"We will focus on high-quality devices and the middle to high-level market in China," executive vice-president Zeng Xuezhong told the South China Morning Post. "We will reduce device models by 50 per cent, based on the 176 models of smartphones in the mainland market last year.

"Some models of our phones in the China market are not selling well - in that case they are adding to our costs, not generating profit," he said.

The mainland market, with more than one billion mobile phone subscribers, is the most competitive worldwide, according to Zeng. ZTE competes with market leaders such as Apple's iPhone and Samsung, and also with domestic phone makers such as Huawei and Xiaomi.

"In China the roll-out of the 4G network will give us a huge opportunity because the market will need many 4G devices, which are difficult for small firms to make technically," Zeng said. "4G-related projects … will be our key investment field."

The Shenzhen-based company is currently the world's seventh-biggest smartphone maker. It plans to ship 80 million mobile devices in 2015, of which 60 per cent will be smartphones. The shipment target for 2016 is 100 million mobile devices.