A lot of Chinese consumer electronics companies are introducing new brands to the market probably to start afresh in an attempt to gain acceptance in the wider international market. ZUK is one such brand, which was incorporated earlier this year, and is said to be a collaboration between two of China’s technology behemoths – consumer electronics multinational Lenovo and security software maker Qihoo 360. The company has already launched its first ever smartphone – a mid-ranger called the ZUK Z1, to mostly positive reviews from the tech media at large. The phone comes with Cyanogen OS as its biggest USP, and at launch, came with a fairly affordable price-tag of $299.99, considering the hardware on offer.
Now however, if reports are to be believed, the company is apparently advising its retail partners in the US to raise the price of the device to $319.99, by Sunday. At the increased price, the ZUK Z1 will have to compete in the market with a number of similarly-priced devices including the OnePlus 2, which already seems to be a huge hit with the tech-savvy bunch. Not to mention, a bunch of other devices like the Moto X Pure, the Asus ZenFone 2 and myriad other devices from a number of brands from around the world, which are also priced at around the same price range between $300 – $400. With the OnePlus X unveiled earlier this week at $249.99 with the same Snapdragon 801 chip as found on the Z1, it will be interesting to see how the Z1 holds up to the competition as much from the OnePlus X handset itself, as from the OnePlus hype machine that is sure to follow the device in its quest for mid-range supremacy.
Taking a quick look at the ZUK Z1 specs, the device comes with a 5.5-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with a 1080p display resolution. The handset is powered by the Qualcomm MSM8974AC Snapdragon 801 SoC, as already mentioned earlier in the post. The ZUK Z1 smartphone comes with 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage out of the box, and Imaging options include a 13-megapixel rear-facing primary camera with autofocus, optical image stabilization and dual-LED flash; along with an 8-megapixel front-facing selfie-cam. Sensors include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, proximity, compass, A-GPS and GLONASS, while connectivity options include dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, hotspot and Bluetooth 4.1. The phone also happens to be one of the very few devices to feature a USB Type-C reversible connector, and carries a rather large 4,100 mAh Li-Po battery.