ZTE confirms plans for Windows Phone 8 handset in Q1 2013

ZTE will be joining the Windows Phone 8 party with its own handset in the first quarter of 2013.

The company revealed its plans at an event for its Android products in Italy, attending correspondents asked about Windows Phone 8 and ZTE’s representative pegged Q1 2013 as the time to expect its Microsoft-based models to hit the market.

Earlier in the year we saw teased images of what looked like a Windows Phone 8 handset and a Windows 8 tablet, circulated on social networking sites by the company’s own director of mobile phone market strategy, Dennis Lui.

Another Chinese manufacturer, Huawei, is also developing its own Windows Phone 8 smartphones – the Ascend W1 and Ascend W2.

Photos of the Ascend W1 leaked this week along with rumoured specs which place it as a mid-range device.

The leak came after a rumoured launch event, said to be taking place on September 25, failed to materialise. Most recently, renders of the Ascend W1 which match the photos have also leaked online.