ZTE Announces Tegra 4 Smartphone with Quad-Core Cortex-A15 CPU

Today, Chinese mobile phone maker ZTE officially announced the upcoming availability of an Nvidia Tegra 4-based smartphone, set to arrive on shelves by mid-2013.

The company notes that the smartphone will arrive on shelves in China in the first half of the year, and that it will provide users with fast web browsing, great gaming capabilities, and the like.

“This is a clear demonstration of ZTE’s ability to quickly develop, and bring to market, market-leading devices running the industry’s latest technologies,” said Mr. He Shiyou, ZTE EVP and head of the Terminal Division.

The NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor will bring to ZTE’s device the power of 72 custom Nvidia GeForce cores and that of a quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU.

Furthermore, the chip will enable worldwide 4G LTE voice and data support through the optional Nvidia i500 processor, ZTE notes. A LTE-enabled ZTE smartphone will arrive on shelves as well, the company said.

“We’re proud to continue our pioneering partnership with Nvidia and are looking forward to offering more Tegra-powered devices, which are defining a new generation of phones offering premium mobile computing experiences,” said Mr. He.

“Our Tegra 4 smartphones will provide full HD entertainment and multimedia experiences that consumers will love.”

The new smartphones coming from the partnership with Nvidia build on the success of ZTE’s existing handsets, including the Grand X, the Grand Era, and the U950.

The Grand X was the first smartphone to pack a Tegra processor and the NVIDIA Icera modem, while the Grand Era was based on the Tegra 3 chip. As for the U950, it landed on shelves at only $160 USD, although capable of premium performance courtesy of a quad-core Tegra 3 processor.

“ZTE's newest super phones will show off Tegra 4's processing power, efficiency and unprecedented capabilities,” said Phil Carmack, senior vice president of the Mobile business at Nvidia. “They’re a great example of what the market expects from one of the world's largest phone makers.”