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ZTE talks past, present and future at CES 2016
ZTE has seen some great success in the smartphone market over the past few years, and that’s very apparent when taking a look at 2015. The China-based smartphone manufacturer launched a handful of budget-friendly and flagship devices all around the world last year, giving users of all types a great reason to consider the company when buying a new smartphone.
Perhaps the most interesting device ZTE launched last year was the Axon – a Quad HD, all-metal smartphone that boasts a Snapdragon 810 processor and a really great 13MP camera. Although it’s the fourth largest handset manufacturer in the United States, ZTE still isn’t a household name. This is why they launched the Axon, along with a handy warranty program called the Axon Passport.
Axon Passport is a warranty program that will give Axon buyers 24 months of unlimited repairs for damage done to the device. ZTE also covers shipping costs if any transfers of the phone are made, which is actually pretty generous. This, of course, costs the company quite a bit of money, but Andrew Elliott, ZTE’s VP of Strategic Marketing, explains the company’s reasoning behind the generosity:
[Axon Passport] costs money, but at the end of the day, once we have a consumer that’s made the decision to purchase the device, it’s far more expensive to attract a new consumer than to take care of the consumers that have already come to ZTE. This is a wonderful way to bring someone in to the ZTE family and to keep them there. We want to continue to build this consumer loyalty towards the ZTE brand, and this is the perfect way to do that.
ZTE also launched two new smartphones, the Grand X3 and the Avid Plus. The former is a 4G LTE-capable smartphone for just $129 that’s headed to Cricket Wireless, while the latter device is coming to T-Mobile for a to-be-determined price point. You can check out our hands-on with both the Grand X3 and the Avid Plus here.
We were lucky enough to talk to ZTE’s Andrew Elliott at CES 2016. If you’d like some more information, be sure to watch the 11-minute interview attached above.