Chinese handset maker ZTE said it will consider releasing smartphones built with eight-core processors in the future as the company prioritizes the high-end market this year.
ZTE plans to launch before mid-year in China so-called "super phones," which will be loaded with quad-core processors from Nvidia's new Tegra 4 chips. But in a statement on Monday, the company said it would even look at using eight-core chips to build phones with faster processing speeds.
"Speed means that as much as possible we will have dual-core, quad-core or even eight-core platforms in the future," said He Shiyou, ZTE's head of mobile devices division.
It's unclear to which vendors ZTE will turn to provide the eight-core processors. In January, Samsung announced such a chip, called the Exynos 5 Octa, that essentially works as two quad-core processors packaged together as one. The chip promises to offer faster processing speeds, along with better power efficiency to save on battery life.
ZTE, better known as a low-end handset developer, was the fifth largest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter, according to research firm IDC. But its market share remains small at 4.3% and trails far behind larger rivals Apple and Samsung.
Growth for the Chinese handset maker, however, continues to soar, with its smartphone sales up 100% in 2012 from the previous year, the company said on Monday. By 2015, the company aims to become one of the top three handset manufacturers.
