For a while now, we’ve been hearing whispers of Sony entering the budget market with a smartphone that can hold its own in both looks and features, without carrying a hefty price tag with it. Of course, the secret to all this has long been the MediaTek MT6589, which is a low-end quad-core CPU clocked at 1.2 Ghz. We say low-end here because it’s based on the more power-conscious Cortex A7 core design, rather than the performance of the Cortex A9 or A15 designs. That doesn’t mean the MediaTek CPU is a poor performer, it’s just not going to wow you or anything like that.
Here comes the C3 then, a leaked smartphone from Sony that’s said to be packing either the MT6589 or the upgraded MT6589T that comes with a slightly higher clock speed of 1.5 Ghz. Looks wise, the C3 looks very close to the Xperia Z and that’s certainly not a bad thing, it should have an instant brand presence whenever it arrives on shelves and gives it a little bit of needed style to stand out.
For us here in the West, these smartphones might not mean much but, this is where a lot of the growth for smartphone manufacturers is happening and the MediaTek CPU is helping them push better phones out, without raising prices by too much. Sony might not need to sell budget smartphones but, if these emerging markets are where the money is, then why shouldn’t they start releasing in those territories?
I, for one, hope that this is a decent offering from Sony, and if they see some success with this mid-range offering they bring it further West. A lot of my time is spent on my Nexus 7, leaving my smartphone to rest peacefully in my pocket, so the days of me needing a fully-fledged flagship phone have been put behind me. What do you think? Should Sony be chasing the budget market?
[Source: GizChina]