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Baidu announces new smartphone partnership, stops short of saying who with (update: ZTE?)

China's search giant Baidu has already got its foot in the mobile platform door, now it plans to wedge it open a little further. Reuters report that the firm will be announcing a new partnership next week that will involve a new smartphone running an updated version of its mobile operating system, this time called Baidu Cloud. There's no word right now on who is supplying the hardware, with vice president Wang Jing only going as far to say it's in talks with "global" manufacturers. So looks like it's names in a hat for now, until the big reveal.

Update: According to a reliable source of ours, 'tis none other than Chinese mobile giant ZTE who'll become Baidu's new best friend. Furthermore, Baidu Cloud is -- surprise, surprise -- another Android variant. We can only imagine Huawei looking over the fence with jealousy.