Although the highlights at CES 2014 centered on 4K/curved TVs and wearable electronics, Chinese smartphone brands joined the party as well. Huawei and ZTE have come a long way to make a showing in the high-end smartphone segment. Alcatel, Hisense, Lenovo (the #4 smartphone vendor in the world in Q3 2013, DisplaySearch), on the other hand, are well known smartphone brands in emerging markets, but had not yet made a showing in the U.S. They all showed top of the line products at CES, with similar display resolution, camera, and memory specifications:



Lenovo's Vibe Z is the company's first LTE smartphone, being introduced in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Alcatel's Idol X+ was released in China last month and will be available in Europe in February, but not in the U.S. in the near future.

Hisense said that it is talking to two U.S. carriers and will have a version of its X1 specifically for the US market.

Another brand to watch is Meizu, who have partnered with a distributor and are going to sell smartphones on Amazon.com.