ZTE Betting Heavily on 5G to Come Back to Former Glory

ZTE was once part of the "China Cool Federation" - basically one of the Chinese favorites - and ranked very high among top phone makers in the Asian country. In recent years though, the company lost its appeal to the masses and hasn't been able to come back to its former glory.

Xu Feng also mentioned the advantages of ZTE in 5G: "We were the first to launch a 5G mobile phone, which means we have the know-how".

ZTE Corporation did indeed announce their 5G mobile phone - the Axon 10 Pro 5G - at the MWC exhibition in February this year. The smartphone equipped a Snapdragon 855 processor along with a X50 modem. Making it the first 5G mobile phone to hit the market with a price of 4999 yuan; around $710 at the current exchange rates.

Going back to today. The phone maker now plans to release over 10 5G devices in 2020. These will have a starting price of 3000 Yuan, about $430, for high-end flagships. Meanwhile low to mid-range phones will go for 2000 Yuan ($280) or less. There are still no info on any of the specs and release times though.

Finally, always according to Xu Feng, ZTE predicts that there will be 160 million 5G smartphones sold worldwide in 2020; with China taking at least half of the market. So in China alone there'll be over 80 million 5G phones, increasing the overall 5G adoption rate of about 20%. Whether ZTE will take a small or big portion of that number we're yet to see.