ZTE hopes to ship more than 80m smartphones next year

ZTE Corp, the world's seventh-biggest smartphone maker, aims to ship more than 80 million of the devices globally next year as it chases higher-margin contracts and benefits from China's introduction of 4G telecom networks.

Shenzhen-based ZTE, which shipped about 40 million smartphones in 2013, also aims to ship about 100 million in 2016, Executive Vice President Zeng Xuezong told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

"We will make more and more premium smartphones," Zeng said, adding that at least 60 percent, or 48 million, of the shipment target for next year would be handsets compatible with 4G communications networks.

"Only by doing so can we get positive feedback from consumers and achieve growth," Zeng said.

The company told Reuters in April that shipments of its premium smartphone Nubia will grow at least 300 percent year-on-year in 2014.

Zeng expected revenue from the company's terminal device unit, which sells smartphones and tablets, to increase by more than 15 percent in 2014 from one year earlier.

The forecast for higher 4G smartphone shipments comes at a time when ZTE and rival Huawei Technologies are set to reap the rewards of contracts to build high-speed 4G mobile networks at home and abroad.

ZTE predicts global spending on 4G will be $100 billion in 2014 and that spending in China will be 100 billion yuan ($16.13 billion).

The company is also targeting the fat profit margins promised by sales of high-end phones in the US even after US government officials flagged security concerns about Chinese-made network equipment, which has been mostly shut out of the US and other markets.

Chinese mobile phone makers are also grappling with low brand awareness in the world's second-largest smartphone market and perceptions of inferior quality.

"There's indeed a gap between the brand awareness of Chinese companies and those top global brands, and this is what our team is trying to build for consumers," Zeng said.

At home in China, the world's largest mobile phone market with more than 1 billion subscribers, ZTE competes with both Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc, as well as domestic makers Lenovo Group, Huawei and Xiaomi.

ZTE's Hong Kong-listed shares rose 0.3 percent on Monday, versus a 0.7 percent increase in the Hang Seng Index.