The Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment company is slashing around 3,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2017. The cut down will be around 5 percent of ZTE's total workforce.
The job cut down is primarily in China, where the company has been losing its market share. As revealed by a senior executive who has knowledge with the decision, ZTE's cut down in China will be beyond 20 percent.
Apparently, a local manager on one of ZTE's overseas branches revealed that employees who have tried applying at rival companies are also being fired. "I was also given names that must go because they had tried to apply for jobs at (rival) Huawei and are therefore branded as 'unstable factors'," Reuters reported.
However, the company declined to comment with regards to the issue. ZTE is the only smartphone vendor with a consequential value in the United States, where its 10 percent market share makes it the fourth-largest vendor.
In his New Year speech, ZTE chairman Zhao Xianming revealed to his staff that the company had encountered its biggest crisis in its 31 year history. It is worth noting that ZTE has an annual sales of more than $15 billion.
Although the company is on their biggest crisis these days, there is no setbacks in releasing their first Android Wear smartwatch. In an interview earlier before CES officially start, ZTE USA's Chief Executive Officer Lixin Cheng confirms the company's plan to release a smartwatch running Google's Android Wear software later this year, as reported by CNET.
Apparently, Cheng did not disclosed any other information regarding ZTE's smartwatch or its partners. However, he appears excited about its prospects.
Further, Cheng revealed that ZTE's upcoming smartwatch will feature a long battery life and will be LTE ready so users won't need their phones all the time. It looks like the smartwatch will be a global release and will work as a standalone device.
Meanwhile, catch one of ZTE's smartwatch below: