ZTE is the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in the US and the second largest in the prepaid market. The Chinese phone maker announced plans for a new type of phone which will involve ZTE’s new online ‘Z-Community’.

The company will allow fans to become involved with the design process of a new smartphone. ZTE thinks it should listen to its own customers and smartphone enthusiasts in order to conceive something irresistible.

A practice that OnePlus more or less incorporated when designing its first phone as it took what enthusiasts were saying about other current smartphones, but OnePlus kept the OnePlus One under wraps for a long time, only releasing teases for a device whose release was constantly delayed.

ZTE will have an entirely different approach, though. The first stages of development will have consumers submit and vote for their favorite ideas. There are three rules to submitting an idea:

• It has to be a mobile product

• Technologically, it needs to be realistic for 2017

• Final product must be affordable for the general population

Consumers who submit the best ideas can win small cash prizes and a chance to win a trip to CES 2017 where they will be recognized for their help in creating a new device. In addition, Registered Z-Community members will be able to purchase the final product earlier than anyone else.

ZTE is embracing its consumers and looking to them for great ideas. “Sometimes the best ideas come from people outside of a company who have a fresh take and we wouldn’t have thought of otherwise”, - Jeff Yee, Vice President of Technology, Planning, and Partnerships at ZTE.