Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE has stopped producing smartphones that support both GLONASS and GPS, said Ding Haomin, ZTE’s representative in Russia, in an exchange with CNews.ru, an online publication covering the Russian telecom and IT markets.
Haomin explained the decision was motivated by “the absence of demand” for such devices.
ZTE was the maufacturer of the Glonass 945, the first smartphone supporting Glonass, the Russian satellite navigation system. The Glonass 945 smartphone was launched by MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator, in April of last year.
It took no less than half a year for MTS to sell only 5,000 devices supplied by ZTE, Haomin told CNews.ru.
This low volume of sales prompted ZTE to cease production, although MTS initially planned a first batch of 500,000 devices.
The Glonass 945 had been presented to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as “the Russian iPhone 4,” arguably with some exageration, judging by its modest functional and technical characteristics as well as its little attractive design.
Huawei, another Chinese smartphone maker, also suspended its plans to produce GLONASS supported devices, its Russia representative Alexey Gromakov told CNews.ru.
Last year, several global smartphone makers, including Samsung, Apple, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson, discreetly introduced GPS+GLONASS models. In November, Nokia announced a partnership with NIS GLONASS, the Russian national provider of satellite navigation services, to adapt the GLONASS technology to its mobile platforms and devices.
A new generation of chipsets offered by major suppliers like Qualcomm or Broadcom is designed to support both GLONASS and GPS, but this function can be used only with on smartphones that are specially adapted to use it.
