ZTE isn’t your household manufacturer name but prepare to hear it a lot as they unveiled quite a large lineup at MWC. Most notable is their flagship ZTE Era. The Era joins the quad-core cool kids’ table by rocking NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 4-PLUS-1 processor. Interestingly enough, it also features NVIDIA’s Icera 450 HSPA+ modem. Other specs include:

• 4.3 inch QHD 960 x 540 display
• 8GB of memory expandable with a MicroSD
• HD voice and Dolby sound
• Android 4.0

There’s no mention of price or availability but we should hear from ZTE soon as they are committed to becoming one of the top three handset providers by 2015. Those are some big goals you’ve set there ZTE, good luck! Read more below in the official press release.

ZTE Era smartphone launched at Mobile World Congress 2012

27 February 2012, Shenzhen – ZTE Corporation (“ZTE”) (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has announced the ZTE Era, one of the thinnest quad-core devices on the market today.

Based on the NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core mobile processor and equipped with a NVIDIA Icera 450 HSPA+ modem, the ZTE Era packs high definition multimedia capabilities into a package that is just 7.8mm thick. The Era has a 4.3 inch QHD screen giving high quality 960 x 540 pixel images, 8GB of memory expandable with a MicroSD card, HD voice and Dolby sound. Running the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) platform the ZTE Era is the most powerful Android smartphone from ZTE, providing powerful new ways of communicating and sharing, with easy multitasking, rich notifications and deep interactivity. The ZTE Era delivers a great combination of amazing battery life and outstanding performance with Tegra 3’s unique 4-PLUS-1™ quad-core architecture with a fifth battery saver core.

The ZTE Era is the flagship device launch from ZTE at Mobile World Congress and is part of a series of eight new devices unveiled at the event, all delivering significant advances in power, high definition multimedia capabilities and design. Based on technology innovations including quad-core chipsets, LTE and the latest Android and Windows Phone platforms, the new devices form a core component of ZTE’s ambition to become a top three handset provider by 2015.

“The numbers speak for themselves. With 50 percent growth in handset shipments and 400 percent growth in smartphone shipments, we are confident that we are entering a new era in the mobile terminal market. The ZTE Era captures the excitement we feel about the future and brings it to life in a fantastic new device,” said Mr. He Shiyou, Executive Vice President and Head of the Terminals Division at ZTE.