ZTE, the fourth largest smartphone vendor in US, introduces its lease-to-own program in US market today. This is a move following the suite of Apple iPhone upgrade program, and leading ahead of Samsung and other major OEMs in US market.

EIP (equipment installment plan) and lease program have become the mainstream of smartphone payment behavior in US, coupled with the shift away from traditional subsidy model, as we indicated in the published report from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) services : How will the Apple iPhone upgrade program to reshape the US smartphone market? Following Apple, ZTE is the second major OEM tapping into the new playing field, which we believe will help ZTE to enhance customer loyalty and upsell more premium models, such as Axon Pro.

ZTE's lease-to-own program is a mixed of EIP and lease program, allowing ZTE smartphone owners to choose payment terms from 6 months to 2 years. It also offers the flexibility to early upgrade smartphones by trading in old models, or own smartphones after paying up phone bills. It applies for unlocked smartphones (which is witnessing strong growth in the US market) and locked smartphone models from carriers. ZTE has good relationship with top tier carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, as well as a number of regional carriers and MVNOs.

WSS clients please click here to access the latest US locked smartphone analysis, as well as US smartphone payment behavior analysis.