At the Barcelona Mobile World Congress (MWC), China’s major mobile phone manufacturer ZTE announced that its smartphone shipments for 2016 will surpass 60 million, and Europe will still be its focus, Tencent Tech reported on Monday.
ZTE’s shipments of smartphones reached 56 million in 2015, according to its official data. Zeng Xuezhong, Executive Vice-President and CEO of the mobile devices division, said that sales of smartphones in Europe increased 400% compared to 2014.
Zhang Shumin, Head of ZTE Mobile Devices in Asia Pacific, said that the decline of certain mobile phone manufacturers (including Sony and HTC) in Europe has contributed to ZTE’s fast increase. Zhang added that the Asian and African markets will also be crucial; however, there will not be much input in India in 2016.
ZTE announced a consumer marketing plan, covering over ten million European consumers from countries including Spain, France and Germany. The company also signed a contract with Sevilla Football Club of Spain to become its official technology partner.
In comparison with achievements overseas, sour domestic market performance has been ZTE’s biggest challenge. With this in mind, Zeng said that in 2016, ZTE will promote its cooperation with operators including China’s biggest mobile phone retailer, D.Phone, leading retailers Gome and Suning and China’s second largest e-commerce platform, JD.com.
Huawei and Xiaomi dominated China’s domestic smartphone market in 2015. Huawei’s shipments surpassed 100 milion while Xiaomi wasn’t far behind with just over 70 million.
