ZTE aims to launch 5G smartphone in US by early next year
SAN FRANCISCO: Chinese smartphone maker ZTE Corp aims to launch a smartphone with faster 5G Internet capabilities in about a year, according to
Lixin Cheng, chief executive officer of the company’s United States division.
The device would be introduced in the US at the end of this year or early next year, said Chengin an interview.
Plans may change based on the availability of fifth-generation networks and the supply of the necessary chipsets.
Cheng said it would be a smartphone, but also noted that a 5G tablet or wireless-Internet hub for homes were possibilities, too.
AT&T Inc said earlier this month that it plans 5G phone service in about a dozen cities this year, without naming any specifically. Qualcomm Inc has talked up new chips it will sell to enable this faster wireless connectivity. Without those ingredients, ZTE and most other phone makers will struggle to offer viable 5G gadgets.
Cheng’s comments, made on the sidelines of the CES consumer electronics conference in Las Vegas, come as Chinese phone makers are being scrutinised by US authorities.
ZTE was fined as much as US$1.2 billion (RM4.77 billion) last year for breaching US sanctions on Iran. Huawei Technologies Co, which was labeled a cyberspying threat by a US congressional committee in 2012, planned to announce its first US carrier deal this week with AT&T, but the deal crumbled close to the announcement.