China smartphone brands stealing spotlight

Daniel Shen, Las Vegas; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Friday 11 January 2013]

China-based smartphone vendors including Huawei Device, ZTE, TCL Communication and Lenovo are stealing the spotlight at the CES 2013 trade show with their flagship models featuring 5-inch or above displays and quad-core CPUs.

Competing with those 5-inch models showcased by China brands, Sony Mobile Communications has also unveiled its 5-inch flagship models, the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL at the CES.

Huawei is displaying two flagship models, the 6.1-inch Ascend Mate and 5-inch Ascend D2, at the show. While the 6.1-inch Ascend Mate is the largest size of smartphone ever announced by a vendor, the 5-inch Ascend D2 has a display resolution of 1,080 by 1,920 and a pixel density of 443ppi, and is waterproof and dustproof.

ZTE's flagship model, the Grand S, features a Qualcomm 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, a 5-inch Full HD display, a 13-megapixel camera and LTE support. The Grand S will be available in China at the end of the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2013, and in the US and other markets in the second half of the year, according to industry sources.

Lenovo's latest flagship model, the K900, is powered by an Intel 2GHz dual-core Atom Z2580 processor. The model has a 5.5-inch 1080p Full HD display, a 13-megapixel camera, and a thickness of just 6.9mm.

Meanwhile, TCL, owner of Alcatel brand, also unleashed the One Touch Scribe HD, which comes with a 5-inch full HD display and is powered by a Mediatek MT6589 quad-core solution. The Scribe HD will be available in China in the second quarter and in the US in the third quarter, said the sources.