ZTE said it expects to ship more than 80 million handsets this year, up from 60 million in 2010. The announcement comes as its ZTE Blade smartphone passed the milestone of 2 million units sold. The Blade was first launched in the UK as the Orange San Francisco in the second half of 2010, and is now available in over 30 countries and regions. The company claims that at one point the handset surpassed iPhone 4 sales in the UK, in early 2011, after a promotional offer for the phone at GBP 80 during the holidays. The company said it worked with Orange to target the gap in the market for mid-range smartphones. In Greece, the Blade has also been operator Wind's best-selling smartphone since its launch in January. Monthly sales volumes of the Blade in Greece are around 3,000 units. ZTE said it's also seen success in Finland, with Blade sales topping the most popular iPhone model in November and December 2010 and January 2011. ZTE Blade owners are also using their phones more intensively than others, peaking at 700MB per month in Finland, ZTE said. In addition, the Blade has been customised for China Telecom's CDMA 2000 EVDO network and China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network for launch in the next few months.
