ZTE looks forward to their North American debut with Sprint. The company’s new Android handset, titled N860, has visited the Bluetooth SIG and FCC.

Coming through the FCC halls, the N860 carried with it the label declaring Sprint as the handset’s carrier. That’s a first for the carrier too as they have never before marched out with a ZTE handset.

We don’t have anything to go on, not even the version of Android it will be running. No release dates have been hinted, but if the handset arrives soon, then that would mark the N860 as the first ZTE Android smartphone on a major US carrier.

Earlier Cricket had launched the ZTE Score, but since the carrier is a regional network, the smartphone doesn’t count to be listed as the first ZTE Android. Outside the North American boundary, the Chinese manufacturer has released many Android devices, and moreover, the company is an official Window Phone partner of Microsoft.

ZTE has brought out ZTE Tania as their first Mango phone. The company looks to rise up with more handsets and major carriers joining hands.

Judging by how ZTE has released affordable Android phones in the past, the N860 looks like a mid-range device. Still, it might surprise us.

And surprises give an edge to competition.