ZTE Plans High-End Smartphone for CES 2013 (Update: the Grand S)

Chinese mobile phone maker ZTE is expected to make official a high-end smartphone at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The company has already confirmed such plans, although it did not offer specific info on what the device might pack in terms of hardware specs and features.

However, it seems that the new handset won’t be included in the Nubia brand that ZTE made official back in October, when it also announced a 5-inch smartphone that should land in China this month.

In a recent interview with ComputerWorld, Hagen Fendler, ZTE's new global chief design director, said that the smartphone would debut a new design perspective for the company.

“It will kind of be a starting point of a new design era for ZTE,” Fendler reportedly said.

“The Nubia brand is a second brand, which we use to address the high end in parallel to this activity,” he also explained.

According to ZTE's global chief design director, the company is aiming at establishing a new design approach to smartphones, and its upcoming portfolio will show that to the full.

The Chinese mobile phone maker said a while ago that it planned on becoming the third smartphone maker in the world, and the new devices should be aimed at helping it achieve that goal.

However, it remains to be seen what exactly the company will pack inside these smartphones, and which operating systems it will load on them.

With the industry moving towards handsets with 5-inch or larger touchscreens capable of delivering a full HD resolution, it should not come too much as a surprise if ZTE released such phones as well.

With roughly a month remaining until CES 2013 in Las Vegas, we won’t have too long to wait for specific info on the matter, so keep an eye on this space for further info.

Update: On the CESWeb site, ZTE notes that the handset in question will be the 5-inch 1080p Grand S, which will be included in the company's Grand Series lineup.