ZTE shipped 35M handsets in the first half of the year

ZTE said it shipped 35 million handsets in the first half of the year, up 30 percent from the first half of 2010, giving the company solid momentum toward its goal of shipping 80 million total handsets for the year.

ZTE global market share

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The company said the 35 million units are part of the 60 million "terminals" it shipped in the first half; ZTE's terminal shipments also include items such as USB modems. ZTE attributed the jump in overall shipments to a 400 percent rise in its smartphone sales in the first half. The Chinese vendor also said that U.S. market shipments surged 300 percent in the first half.

In the United States, ZTE has been steadily making inroads with Tier 2 and smaller U.S. carriers, but has yet to get a Tier 1 carrier to promote one of its smartphones. 

ZTE said earlier this year it expects its global smartphone shipments to quadruple from 3 million units to 12 million. Although the company has been relying on Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform to power its smartphone growth, ZTE will release devices running Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone 7 in Europe later this year. The company expects to bring Windows Phone devices to the United States early next year. 

According to both IDC and Strategy Analytics, ZTE captured the No. 5 global handset maker spot in the second quarter, behind Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), and grew both its unit shipments and market share. Research firm ABI Research said ZTE was the sixth-largest branded handset maker in the second quarter.

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