Like Huawei, Lenovo, Mi, and many other Chinese phone makers, ZTE isn't exactly a well-known name here in the US. Though it has been selling phones here for years, many times they are rebranded by carriers. And most of them are low-end prepaid phones that don't engender a lot of excitement in the press or the average person looking for a new phone. But ZTE has been offering its more interesting and higher-end models unlocked through Amazon for some time, and today it's announcing the Nubia 5S mini LTE for the US.

The Nubia 5S mini LTE is a 4.7-inch smartphone with a 720p display, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, 13-megapixel camera, and support for AT&T and T-Mobile LTE networks here in the US. It's selling for a $279 unlocked and without a contract, a rather attractive price for a quite capable phone.