ZTE is quietly becoming a force in the U.S. by selling good enough phones at low prices – smaller prepaid smartphones for $30, basic phones with QWERTY keyboards for about the same, and so on. The Chinese company’s products are among the cheap phones of choice at three of the big four U.S. carriers. (Verizon doesn’t carry them.) ZTE claimed about 8 percent of America’s smartphone market in the second quarter of this year, says researcher IDC, up from 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2014. That ranks the company fourth among smartphone makers overall, behind Apple, Samsung, and LG. “We came from nowhere, and now we are a solid force,” says Lixin Cheng, head of ZTE’s U.S. operations.
For many people, their phone isn’t a status symbol, or it’s just something they don’t care about at all – as long as it makes calls and pulls some light duty, they’re happy. I really dislike how these phones and its users tend to be portrayed in the media – almost as if these people are stupid, silly, or dumb for not wanting the latest iPhone or Galaxy phone. Elitist nonsense.
The other story, is that cheap Android smartphones have brought modern internet to nearly a billion people around the world. On a recent trip to ((country in Central America)), I found that my OnePlus One was smaller than most peoples’ phones (mostly brands I’ve never even heard of, and I frequent GSMArena). The smartphone is probably the primary computing device for most people in the developing world, and these cheap Android smartphones are enabling devices for many.
I just don’t think this would have been possible in another universe where certain companies won their patent disputes and phones still cost $700+.
Edited 2015-09-04 23:07 UTC
The sub $100 phone market is going to get very large in the US as most carriers are abandoning the phone subsidy model and people realize the real price of phones.
Low end Nokia Lumia’s have sold fairly well as secondary handsets with the 520/521 leading the pack in 2013/2014 . Granted this is still a very small percentage of the total market…
I’m still fairly impressed at how decent a device the 521 is (esp for a $30-$40 phone). There is no way I am ever going to pay $600 for a phone again. For that much money I can get a laptop, phone and tablet.
Edited 2015-09-04 23:30 UTC
You should check out phones by BLU then, they have every price from $35-$300 and their $100 phones? REALLY nice. I got the Studio mini LTE and love the thing, a GB of RAM, quad core, 8GB of storage with MicroSD, IPS display, its amazing how nice a phone you can get for $100 these days.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_3562888011&no…
As for why they are becoming popular? I’d say its obvious, the majority are happy with “good enough” and phones these days are insanely overpowered. I mean what can a $400 phone do that my $100 can’t? Play 3D video games? I have a desktop for those with much better controls and graphics than any phone can muster. Everything else, video, audio, camera, apps, all those work just fine on my phone and since it’ll work on just about any carrier and is unlocked i can go to where the best deals are which can save you a ton in the USA.
I dropped my old carrier and went for a “pay what you use” carrier and my bill dropped from $52 a month to $27, that is damned near half and I use the phone no different than I did with the more expensive carrier, so why would I want to go back to contracts when I can get a nice phone for $100 and go anywhere?
I’ve got a ZTE Fit 4G. They are inexpensive – not cheap. The vanilla Android 4.4 is fast, smooth and rock solid
I am going to set aside the Zenfone 4 I am currently using and will buy cheap phones(I hope from Nokia) or Microsoft’s. As long as it can text and call plus the added social function like Facebook to connect with family, this will be fine. For camera, I need camera because my kids are growing, I will just buy a point and shoot camera, for this type of camera has a better picture quality than most average phones.
I really love Zenfone 2, but it was beyond the budget.
Edited 2015-09-05 00:40 UTC
Strange I’ve always felt that towards those with Apple phones and similar.
Personally I’ve bought Xiaomi, Lenovo and Oneplus phones and don’t think my life (or that of my family) has suffered. I currently have a Meizu MX4 Ubuntu phone which I like.
If I were a 12 year old I suppose I would consider having the latest and “greatest” cell phone as prestigious too. Fortunately I’m an adult and don’t give a shit about anyones cell phone.
We are to the point where low end phones can handle almost everything we need smartphones to do. I love my Galaxy S5 but it will likely be the last major smartphone I purchase. Once my contract is up I am switching to prepaid plans and buying all future devices outright.
My funniest customer experience story happened earlier this year when I finally ditched my old flip phone for a ZTE. The guy ringing me up asked if I wanted the extended warranty, as they are trained to do.
“Why?” I asked. “It’s $20.00. If I break it I’ll just buy another.”
He looked at me as if he couldn’t decide if that was the dumbest or most brilliant thing he had ever heard, then finished the sale.
And maybe it’s just because it’s the first smartphone I’ve ever used, but I like it just fine. I can write quick notes, take a snapshot, even receive phone calls. The only thing I don’t like is the battery life, but that’s just because I was spoiled by the week and a half I used to get from a full charge on the old dumb phone.
Sounds like best buy. I’ve had them argue with me on the protection plan for a $10 mouse.
The U.S is doing away with contracts, aren’t they? If so, I guess the numbers will only get bigger.
Not surprised though given that for the vast majority of people the NZ$200 off contract are surprisingly good value for money. Take the Vodafone Smart Ultra:
http://www.vodafone.co.nz/shop/mobileDetails.jsp?skuId=sku800068
And check out those specifications, a gorgeously large screen, LTE compatible, runs lollipop, an ok camera all for NZ$299 off contract.
The only downside that I see is the lack of consistent updates for security fixes such as the stagefright recently. Honestly, if ZTE and Huawei came out and put out bog standard vanilla installation Android phones with updates coming straight from Google (like how Nexus) then it would definitely cause some damage not only to the likes of Samsung and HTC but also the iPhone as well. I do however feel kind of sorry for HTC – although the HTC One M9 is a great phone after many updates, if you’ve ever gone into a carrier shop they’re always relegated to the corner, far away from the customers sight where Samsung and Apple have the prime location that receive all the foot traffic.
Edit: I forgot to mention, the comparison between Apple and the ecosystem is rather pointless given that the Android ecosystem is more or less about getting ‘bums on seats’ to use Google services which is where the money is made where as with Apple the iCloud service is an icing on the cake rather than a corner stone of their business model. Although revenue is nice to compare but over riding focus by Google (as seen with the focus on the super low end smart phones) is getting Google into as many hands as possible – Android just so happens to be the ‘gate way drug’ of choice.
Edited 2015-09-05 07:07 UTC
Huawei have their own Emotion UI. ZTE (in Australia) use vanilla Android. Neither have any incentive to offer upgrades when they can sell a new phone instead.
I’ll add the point that Huawei and ZTE are networking companies (like Ericsson). Phones aren’t a core business for either of them.
The main reasons I throw money at new phones is for incremental improvements in digital camera technology since I don’t carry any other camera with me.
Even though some of the other features are “good enough” most phones before now were not crap if measured as cameras especially in low/dim light or with moving subjects.
This is a photo from a Samsung S4 as an example: http://i.imgur.com/XoV4pJh.jpg
What could have been a decent picture is totally ruined. I have tons of photos with that camera taken indoors that are too blurry to be usable.
Most people who review phone cameras aren’t even close to being critical enough. Placing a phone on a tripod to photograph a still object in a well lit environment is not difficult enough test. How much motion blur is there with living subjects?
My current phone is the first one I have owned that isn’t terrible as a digital camera. Maybe in 2-3 years some cheaper phones will have “good enough” cameras but that’s still far from the case now.
The other side of that argument is if you’re interested in taking great quality images then you should use a device designed to do just that and stop expecting it from a cell phone.
People tend to forget that cell phones are tools of convenience. They’re intended to be `good enough` and the only time they make for drop-in replacements is when the bar isn’t set that high. These days people are using cell phones as their stereo, radio, camera, video recorder, game console, internet access, media consumption, gps, babysitter, and a bunch of other stuff. You don’t get all that without making sacrifices.
You would save a ton of money if you bought a cheap phone and an average camera. You’d get better pictures too.
The problem is people confusing drunken party snapshots with actual photographs. Cell phones are good for one of these things, cameras for the other.
Just as long as you don’t substitute cell phone snobbery for camera snobbery.
And as always, the best camera you have is the one with you. Do you think most people would like to carry a stand alone camera along wit them at all times?
Taking good low-light pictures is challenging regardless of the camera type, and requires a combination of:
* experienced and talented photographer.
* half-decent camera that allows basic adjustments such as aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.
* add-on assistant tools, at least a strobe/flash and tripod.
* planning.
* luck.
Being deficient on any one of these can be overcome by being exemplary in the others.
Fail to achieve two of these and the results will be disappointing.
These are drug dealer and subsidized phones. Hardly satisfying to regular users.
You obviously haven’t used one.
The $60 ZTE Maven (I have the equivalent 4G model) is as fast and smooth as a Galaxy S3. The only real compromise is the screen and the camera.
The ZTE Blade S6 is genuine flagship for 1/3rd the price of an iPhone S6 or Galaxy s5.
No, these are the UNsubsidized phones. You pay 99 dollars (or less) once and use them until they break (or until it is your next birthday and somebody still loves you
)
And by using I do mean USING, not playing around
> Elite nonsense
Just look at this Z5 + Note 5 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daoJ2BktV5E
These things are fashion pieces. There’s no way this direction saves money. This is for the elite. The other 7 billion people need something else. Not Fairphone because it’s too expensive for whatever reason. But something that’s not an Academy Award Gift Bag piece.
These flagships heavily subsidise the development of cheaper phones. Most of the latest technology will drift down to the entry level models in 3-4 years.
In 2020 a 6″ octa-core 1080p model will probably be very cheap ($50-100). The only noticeable difference between high and low end models will be the materials used.