ZTE set to launch high end handset in January

ZTE is preparing to launch its first high-end smartphone at CES in January, according to the company's global chief design director Hagen Fendler.

Fendler told news agency IDG the device will see a change in direction, although he wouldn't specify how it would be different, or in fact, any features we may see in the device.

The device will be separate from the 5-inch Nubia device which was announced for the Chinese market earlier in the year.

'The Nubia brand is a second brand, which we use to address the high end in parallel to this activity,' Fendler told IDG.

Fendler previously worked at rival Chinese manufacturer Huawei before joining ZTE in September.

ZTE has steered clear from the high-end market in previous years, preferring to launch affordable, lower-specced devices rather than those rivalling the likes of Samsung and HTC.

The company did confirm plans for a Windows Phone 8 device to launch in Q1 2013 back in October, which also tallies up with rumours ZTE will be a Windows Phone 8 launch partner.

Even earlier this year, ZTE's director of mobile phone market strategy Dennis Lui shared some blurry pictures of Windows Phone 8 devices via his social networks.