It’s something that many have predicted but nobody thought would happen anytime soon. According to IDC, sales of smartphones have surpassed that of feature phones in the first quarter. Samsung is leading the race, with Apple, LG, Huawei and ZTE in the top 5.

Samsung’s shipments increased 60.7 percent to reach 70.7 million smartphones and that has helped the South Korean company to get 32.7% of the market share. Apple’s iPhone 5 helped the Mac maker to grow 6.6% to 37.4 million handsets, but their market share dropped to 17.3% from 23%.

Samsung certainly has gained by flooding the market with cheaper Android devices. And the variety of hardware configurations they bring out is an answer just about anyone’s needs (rugged S4 anyone?).

In the third spot is LG, with the Google Nexus 4 among the company’s most popular handsets. The company has 4.8 percent of the market. But where is Nokia, which until last year was a global leader for 14 years? Although their Lumia shipments have grown, that hasn’t helped them with market share. Nokia and BlackBerry have been pushed out of the top 5 by Huawei (4.6%) and ZTE (4.2%).

Nokia, as you might know, is very fond of feature phones, but smartphones have taken over the stage. Nokia should evolve and expand its smartphone line if they plan to get back to the top again. Kevin Restivo, IDC senior research analyst, says, “Phone users want computers in their pockets. The days where phones are used primarily to make phone calls and send text messages are quickly fading away. As a result, the balance of smartphone power has shifted to phone makers that are most dependent on smartphones“.

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When we think of ZTE, some of you will envision the low-cost Android phones of yesteryear, while the rest of us think about the newer flagship show stoppers such as the ZTE Grand S and Grand Memo. At Mobile World Congress, show goers are seeing another side to ZTE: a Window’s 8 tablet side.

The ZTE V98 is the company’s first Windows 8 slate and it looks like they have done a great job. The design is attractive with a nice chrome strip around the edge, and hardware isn’t bad either with 1.8Ghz Intel Atom CPU and 2GB RAM driving the 10.1-inch display. They’ve even made room for 32GB of memory, and SD card reader and even LTE and GSM network support.

Windows Phone Central have managed to get some hands on time with the ZTE V98 tablet which you can see directly below:

What do you think of ZTE’s first attempt at a Windows tablet? Would you ever consider a tablet built by ZTE?

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Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel, and LG are already into Firefox OS and now Sony, too. Sony has announced that it has partnered with Telefonica for developing a device that will run Mozilla’s browser-based Firefox operating system, and the company expects to bring out the handset in 2014. It appears like the Sony Mobile engineers are already working on a project to meet that goal.

Sony, as you know, is currently into Android as its mobile solution. The question is whether indulging into the Firefox OS will do them any good. Firefox is meant to be used with web apps. You might remember that back in 2007 the iPhone also came out with a web app experience, but later Apple changed plans which resulted in the App Store. So will the Firefox OS survive in the web app space given up by the iPhone?

It will be difficult fighting against iOS and Android, but the Firefox OS can certainly take advantage of the work done by programmers for creating websites and web apps. That it targets the developing world and low-cost smartphone market could help it form a niche as well. What do you think?

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The ZTE Grand Memo has now officially be revealed at MWC. Even more exciting, this is the first officially announced Qualcomm Snapdragon 800-based smartphone.

Outside of the quad-core Snapdragon 800, the Grand Memo also features a 5.7-inch 720×1280 TFT display, a 13MP rear cam, front cam for video chat, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, 3200 mAh battery and LTE.

The ZTE Grand Memo certainly seems to pack quite a punch. On the software side we get Android 4.1, running ZTE’s skin, Mifavor UI on top. The UI is “specifically designed for smartphones” according to the release, though most users prefer a stock Android experience whenever they can – though most major vendors seem to ignore that fact.

So what do you think, are you excited about the Grand Memo or not? Share your thoughts below.

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The Memo basically takes what the super slim Grand S has to offer but super-sizes everything thanks to a larger 5.7-inch display and 3000mAh battery. Like the Grand S the Grand Memo runs on a 1.7Ghz Snapdragon S4 CPU with 2GB RAM with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a 13 mega-pixel rear camera on the rear. Unfortunately the ZTE Grand Memo doesn’t get 1080 resolution but offers a 720p display instead.

Pricing and availability will likely be announced at MWC later this month. So what do you think, interested or do you feel that anything above 5-inches is just too big for you?

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Believe it or not, ZTE is actually the fifth largest smartphone company in the world. And now the Chinese company is preparing to broaden its horizons by unveiling its first smartphone powered by Mozilla Firefox OS. Yes, we’ve got another operating system on our hands.

Just as people can choose between Safari, Internet Explorer, Chrome or Firefox for their desktop web browsers, the same is quickly becoming true with cell phones, choosing between iOS, Windows Phone, Android and, soon, Firefox too. There isn’t much in terms of details being released by ZTE’s foray into Mozilla’s mobile efforts, but an official statement from ZTE says that they have two major announcements at MWC 2013, the Android-based Grand Memo and a new Firefox OS-based ZTE handset.

 I’m not sure how a ZTE Firefox phone will do in this increasingly crowded and complex market, but it’s good to see that one of the “big five” is on board with Mozilla. Ultimately though, Mozilla isn’t looking for major piece of the pie, instead the company simply wants to reach out to the low-end market segment, and the developing world. Whether that strategy will work or not? That remains unseen for now.

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When you look at most of the Android tablets that are on the market today, they typically boast a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:10. The iPad family is entirely different with its 4:3 aspect ratio, but that’s what the newly announced ZTE V81 tablet is mirroring. This is an 8-inch Android tablet with a 1024×768 resolution display, rocking that same “standard” 4:3 aspect ratio as its Cupertino competitor.

ZTE may not exactly be a household name for most people, but it has become the fifth largest smartphone company in the world. The Chinese company has quietly slipped itself mostly into the more affordable end of the market and snatched up quite a bit of market share as a result.

Not surprisingly, the specs on the ZTE V81 aren’t exactly flagship material, but it does seem perfectly adequate for someone who wants a contemporary tablet. You get a dual core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, microSD, 2MP rear camera, VGA front camera, 21Mbps HSPA cellular, WiFi-N, Bluetooth, GPS, HDMI out, and a 3700mAh battery. It ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box.

Of course, it won’t be the only 8-inch tablet on the market. The Galaxy Note 8.0 should be on its way soon too, but that’ll likely be more expensive than this ZTE counterpart. Pricing and availability are still up in the air at the moment, but more information may be provided at MWC next month.

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The U956 mimics the specification of its pricier brother, the ZTE Grand S, and offers customers a 5-inch display and powerful quad-core processor, however the screen is a 720HD rather than 1080HD and the processor is from Taiwanese chip maker MediaTek.

Other highlights include dual-sim support, an 8 mega-pixel rear camera and Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. No announcement if the ZTE U965 will be available internationally, but Chinese shoppers can expect to pick one up before the Chinese Spring Festival holiday.

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In the past we’ve covered development about Firefox OS, including their browser-based simulator for testing it out on your PC.

Still, when is Firefox OS actually coming? We’ve been hearing 2013 for a while now, but the good news is that Mozilla is finally giving us a bit more information about what the future holds.

According to Mozilla, Brazil will be the first market this year. Mozilla has also confirmed Alcatel, Qualcomm and ZTE are all partners involved in the effort to bring Firefox OS out to the market.

So what’s in store outside of Brazil? Mozilla is talking about these plans right now it seems. “Telefonica has announced plans to ship devices in Latin America in 2013. While we have no further announcements at this time, interest and momentum continues to grow in Firefox OS,” says Mozilla’s VP of products, Jay Sulivan.

The good news is that ZTE is filling in some of these blanks for us. ZTE says that they are working to bring their handsets over to Europe this year, and are also considering aiming at the North American market. Their US launch will hinge on how well Firefox OS takes off elsewhere.

So why Firefox OS? The idea is that it uses open-source technology that makes it fast and easy to use, even on low-end, low-cost hardware.

The idea is that it could be appealing towards those in the developing world or those in major markets that just can’t afford or refuse to spend high-dollar on a phone.

Additionally, since the entire OS uses technology such as HTML5, any web programmer should be able to easily be an app developer for the platform. This should make it very easy for programmers to come out with interesting apps, in theory at least.

The smartphone world is getting crowded, but Mozilla believes that Firefox OS could be perfect for the lower-end market. What do you think, do they have any chance at all?

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When ZTE initially announced the Grand S at CES, they only mentioned details of the phone arriving in China. Now after some careful prying, ZTE Head of North American Business, Lixin Cheng has confirmed the 5-inch phone will make an appearance in the U.S. as well.

Cheng didn’t go in to details about when the Grand S will go on sale, or how much it will cost, but he did mention that the overall impression from carriers has been very positive.

The ZTE Grand S launched at CES earlier this week as the world’s thinnest 5-inch, 1080 quad-core phone, and features a Qualcomm S4 pro CPU, 2GB RAM, 13 mega-pixel rear camera and 5-inch 1080 Full High-Definition screen.

What do you think, would you be interested in the Grand S if it hits North America at a reasonable price point?

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