ZTE launches dual-core smartphone in Britain

LONDON -- ZTE Corp, the world's fifth-biggest telecommunications equipment maker, will put on sales its latest smartphone ZTE Grand X in Britain at the beginning of August this year, the Chinese telecom giant announced at a news conference on Wednesday in London.

The Grand X handset, combining an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core chipset with Android 4.0 operating system, will be available through stores of Phones 4u and Virgin Media across Britain.

"ZTE Grand X brings high-end mobile video and gaming within the reach of a whole new audience," said He Shiyou, ZTE's Executive Vice President and head of the Terminals Division.

"It provides a world of entertainment in a single device - combining high quality and a wide range of functions for a great mobile multimedia experience," He added.

Jamie Heywood, director of mobile at Virgin Media said, "We're enjoying a great partnership with ZTE, having already launched two handsets with them this year."

He described the Grand X as a fantastic addition to the extensive smartphone range in the Virgin stores.

According to statistics from the International Data Corporation, ZTE ranked fourth in cellphone shipments in the world in 2011, with its shipments of smartphone reaching 15 million, surging 400 percent year-on-year.

He Shiyou said ZTE hoped to double the smartphone shipments this year, while expecting to make new breakthroughs in the European market.

ZTE company plans to edge up into among the top three cellphone makers by 2015, according to a ZTE vision put forward this year.