Here's my position before I give you any numbers: ZTE still makes phones in 2025, and if you're skipping the brand because it seems to have gone quiet, you're probably losing money, not saving it. I'm not saying that as a fan of the logo. I'm saying it as the person who has signed our telecom purchase orders for the past six years.
My role: procurement manager at a 140-person field-service company. I manage a device and connectivity budget of about $300,000 a year, have negotiated with more than 30 vendors, and I log every order in our cost tracking system. That system doesn't care about brand marketing. It cares about what a device costs after the invoice is paid: repairs, replacements, downtime, setup time, and how long it survives in the back of a truck.
(Should mention: we buy ZTE hardware through a regional distributor. Nobody sends me free review units, and these opinions come from six years of invoices, not from a marketing relationship.)
Let me rephrase that, because it matters: I don't get excited about devices. I get excited about total cost of ownership. And ZTE keeps showing up well in that calculation.
Does ZTE Still Make Phones? Yes. It Never Really Stopped
Straight answer: yes, ZTE still makes phones. As of January 2025, ZTE continues to sell consumer phones, mostly at the budget and mid-range end of the market, and it also sells the Nubia line for gaming and enthusiast buyers. Exact models vary by region, so check ZTE's official website or your local operator before ordering. I'm not 100% sure which current models are available in every market, and the lineup changes quickly.
So why do people think ZTE left phones? Mostly because the consumer marketing is quieter than the big consumer brands. But ZTE is also a major telecom infrastructure provider, the kind that sells network equipment to operators around the world. Phones are one part of the business, and going by the marketing budget, they are not the loudest part.
That's actually why I started paying attention. ZTE's technologies get tested in demanding places: carrier networks, enterprise infrastructure, fixed-line deployments. When the same company builds a phone or a router that has to attach to those networks, the device comes with a different kind of engineering context. Put another way, ZTE doesn't just hope its devices work on someone else's network. It builds both sides. That advantage does not show up on a spec sheet, but it shows up in the field.
ZTE L210 and ZTE WF720: Hardware That Does Its Job Quietly
The two ZTE products I hear about most at work are not exciting. There's the ZTE L210, an entry-level phone that works fine for field staff without making me panic about a cracked screen costing a week's pay. And there's the ZTE WF720, a Wi-Fi router that sits in a branch office and does its job for years without complaining.
Neither one makes a good dinner-party story. That is exactly the point. In business, reliable hardware should be boring.
Here's a real example from our purchase records. In Q2 2024, I compared options for replacing 60 field phones. The lowest quote was about $22 per unit cheaper than the ZTE L210. On paper, that looked like $1,320 in savings. But the low-quote vendor had no local warranty support; replacements would have shipped from a central warehouse with a five to seven day turnaround. Our ZTE distributor is 45 minutes away and stocks the L210. If one failed, we could swap it the next morning.
I calculated the worst case. If even 8 percent of the cheaper units failed in year one, extra downtime and shipping would erase the savings and leave a technician waiting. The upside was not worth that risk. We bought the L210 phones.
That is the piece people often skip: the cheapest quote is not the cheapest decision. Six years of watching invoices has taught me that lesson, and ZTE has been on the right side of it more often than not.
Before You Replace It: How Do You Reset a Phone?
Part of my job is making a budget last, so I am a big fan of the free fix. In 2023, our workshop flagged 31 devices for replacement. When we sat down and tested them, 19 came back to life after a factory reset. Not one needed a repair technician.
If the phrase how do you reset a phone landed you here because a ZTE L210 or another Android phone is acting up, start here:
- Back up your data first. A factory reset wipes everything, and losing your data is not a risk worth taking.
- On most ZTE phones, go to Settings > System > Reset options > Erase all data (factory reset). Some models call it Factory data reset instead.
- If the phone is locked or will not boot normally, power it off, press and hold Volume Up and Power together to enter recovery mode, then choose wipe data/factory reset. The key combination varies by model, so don't hold me to it for yours.
A reset costs about 15 minutes. A replacement phone costs $100 to $200 plus setup time and shipping. That is not complicated math.
I am not saying a reset fixes everything. Hardware fails, screens crack, batteries age. But before you spend the budget, try the free option first.
What About the Fair Objections?
To be fair, ZTE's consumer devices have legitimate criticisms. The most common one I hear is about software updates. Entry-level phones do not usually get the same update attention as flagship devices, and ZTE's budget models are no exception. If you need guaranteed Android version updates for several years, ask about the specific model's update commitment before you buy. I will not argue with that concern.
The second objection is more about image than evidence. People assume that a brand selling telecom infrastructure cannot make a phone that feels simple to use. I understand why that assumption exists. But it has not shown up in our data. The L210 and WF720 units we have deployed have been stable, support has been straightforward, and our field staff do not complain about them. When staff do not complain about a device, that is a quiet win.
The third issue is availability. ZTE is not in every carrier store in every country. For us that is manageable because we buy through a distributor. If you are buying as an individual, check who sells and supports the model in your country before you commit. That homework is cheaper than learning the lesson later.
My Bottom Line
Does ZTE still make phones? Yes. Does that matter? If you buy on the lowest price alone, maybe not. If you buy on value, meaning the full cost over two years, support, reliability, and downtime, then it matters a lot.
ZTE's lineup is not flashy, and the company does not try to win you over with hype. But in a world where procurement decisions are made on headline numbers, quieter engineering tends to win in my spreadsheet. A ZTE L210 in the field truck, a ZTE WF720 in the office, and a network company behind both.
This was accurate as of January 2025. Product lineups change fast, so verify current models and prices on ZTE's website before you commit. Then check your own cost data. That is where the answer will show up.
