On the roll Huawei unveiled the world's slimmest smartphone at CES 2012. Huawei Ascend D quad quad-core smartphone. HTC One, unveiled ...

On the roll

Huawei unveiled the world's slimmest smartphone at CES 2012.

Huawei Ascend D quad quad-core smartphone.

HTC One, unveiled at MWC 2012.

If your idea of Chinese cell phone brands still involves producers churning out gadgets targeting the low-end market, it's time for an upgrade. Chinese manufacturers have already climbed up the value chain with mobile devices that could already be on par with their Western and Asian veteran rivals.

Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE and HTC gained a high profile at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, the world's largest mobile technology trade show, which took place from Monday through Thursday. The companies' success is an indication of a shift in power in the booming marketplace for mobile devices in China, which overtook the US as the world's largest smartphone market in the third quarter of last year.

Two Chinese companies, Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp, made quite a splash at the show, with announcements of gadgets powered by quad-core processors, the fastest CPU technology currently available for mobile devices. The move showcases their ambition of moving away from producing basic feature phones to more smartphones, targeting the high-end segment of the market in particular, which sees strong growth as well as higher profit margins.

Huawei aims for smartphone sales of 60 million units this year, an increase of three-fold from last year, the company said Monday during the show. In addition to the domestic Chinese market, Huawei will be focused on an expansion into overseas markets including Japan, Europe and the US, according to the company. It is also considering plans of launching smartphones based on 4G technology in the second half of 2012.

The two companies would see combined sales of 90 million units this year, compared to 35 million sold last year. Though the figures do not match those of top smartphone vendors such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, Huawei and ZTE are positioning themselves to take on the big names in the industry, moving from traditional telecom network equipment to handset and tablet devices.

While the top two smartphone vendors further cemented their positions in the market with standout brands and new products in the fourth quarter last year, the two Chinese companies were the quarter's fastest-growing vendors after Apple, UK-based market research firm Gartner Inc said in a report last month.

"These vendors expanded their market reach and kept on improving the user experience of their Android devices," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

Taiwan-based HTC Corp's solid performance at the show with a new range of phones featuring advanced camera and music functions was also a bid to reclaim its share in the fickle smartphone market. HTC saw a sour end to 2011, with investors dumping its shares amid fears that the firm was losing its competitive edge.

"The company aims now to concentrate on what they have built their brand on: bringing innovation through design of premium devices rather than spreading efforts across all segments of the market," Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, was quoted by Reuters as saying during the show.

The market still has to wait and see whether HTC's bet on more innovation will restore confidence, but few would doubt that HTC and its fellows Huawei and ZTE are on a roll.

This week's special TECH edition introduces you to some of the most powerful gadgets unveiled at the Barcelona show by the legion of Chinese handset makers. Touched by the Chinese smartphone mojo? Then, do not hesitate to trade in your old cell phone.