Chinese manufacturer ZTE added a new competitor in the fight over which smartphone is the smartest. ZTE’s new Grand S will join predecessors Grand Era and Grand X to try and dominate the market of power business phone users. ZTE has positioned this phone as the “world’s thinnest” among all the 5-inch screen phones. How much does thinness matter to users? A lot, as Apple has proven already. And the Grand S is a world pioneer in technology in more than one way. Its screen resolution (1980×1200) is also a significant USP.
Not so long ago, consumers saw the first TV’s packaged with a screen resolution that displays standard video without any distortions or scaling. This innovation was admired by every tech geek and enjoyed in very many households. Today those geeks are at the edge of their seats, waiting to get a closer look at the Grand S, and browse websites on it. The level of visual advancement displayed by ZTE in this product was only a part of dreamy discussions until now. So other Chinese manufacturers like Huawei, which also had quite an aggressive show on CES earlier, need to pull their socks up if they want to match ZTE.
ZTE’s announcement came right on the heels of Huawei’s announcement of “The World’s Largest Phone” (someone notice a pattern?). The new Ascend Mate by ZTE’s competitor is bordering the “phablet” category that Samsung has led so far. Both ZTE and Huawei are targeting professional users from hyper-connected fields. But ZTE may not be too concerned about Huawei, as the latter is trying hard to penetrate the U.S. market while the former is focused only on Chine. Unlike Ascend Mate, which will be on sale in the U.S. soon, Grand S is going to be sold online in China only and there are no plans to expand soon. Then why host the introduction so far away in Sin City? For the expansive eye balls, of course!
Speaking logistics, most speculation agrees that the ZTE Grand S will be premium priced, owing to the higher class of phones that it has put itself up against, but the company hasn’t declared pricing yet. The online sales will start in Q1 of this year, and while the target may be the data-oriented business user, ZTE has not doubt that consumers will favor the phone for personal purposes as well.
