ZTE to open 23 retail stores this year

ZTE announced today that its plans to open 23 retail stores in China and in Europe. While the U.S. won't be included in the first wave of building activity, the fact that its new flagship phone is U.S. bound (as was last year's model) certainly leaves open the possibility of expansion into the states. As for the initial rollout of stores, there is speculation that 20 will be located in China with one location each earmarked for Mexico, Russia and Germany.

Last week, the ZTE Axon 7 was unveiled featuring high-end specs at a price that undercuts the current generation of flagship Android phones. The Axon 7 is powered by the Snapdragon 820 chipset and the premium version of the phone offers 6GB of RAM with 128GB of native storage. The handset is equipped with a 5.5-inch 1440 x 2560 QHD screen, and the 20MP rear camera has enough letters for a delicious bowl of alphabet soup. OIS+, EIS+ and PDAF focusing are included. The wide f/1.8 aperture should allow users to snap photos in low-light conditions.

ZTE seeks to ship 70 million handsets this year, which would be a 32% increase over the 53 million it delivered last year. For 2015, the company was the sixth largest smartphone manufacturer globally, with 3.4% of the market. ZTE hopes to use the stores to boost brand and product awareness in certain regions.

source: Bloomberg