ZTE CEO at CES 2017: ZTE could play a bigger role in the internet of things

By Christian de Looper Published January 7, 2017

ZTE U.S.A. CEO Lixin Cheng spoke with Digital Trends at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, saying the company takes a much more “grass-roots” approach to advertising — through word of mouth and through its great phones — and that strategy seems to be working.

Cheng also spoke a little about the fact that ZTE isn’t just a smartphone business — the company believes in connecting everything.

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“We have mobile devices — the smartphone is a big part of that. We believe that in the future, everything is connected. Firstly, the communication between people, but we’re also going to facilitate collaboration between machines,” Cheng said in the interview. “Everyone’s talking about artificial intelligence and the internet of things, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

So should we glean from the interview that ZTE is going to play a bigger role in the internet of things? Well, it’s certainly possible. Apart from its smartphone business, ZTE is also known for wireless devices, and even internet hot spots for your car, such as the ZTE Mobley. Bringing out more connected devices that play nice with the products that ZTE already offers would make sense.

ZTE also makes tablets, and while the tablet market is largely shrinking, ZTE is still forging ahead in that sector. During the interview, Cheng said that we should expect more tablets this year, as ZTE continues its tradition of offering premium quality at an affordable price.

Check out the video below to see the full interview.

Digital Trends is live all week at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. Check out our continuing coverage live on YouTube, Facebook, #DTces, and DigitalTrends.com/ces/.

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Christian de Looper

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Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…

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