If you are unfamiliar with the name, ZUK is a new smartphone maker from China, founded barely 4 months ago on May and backed by Lenovo. Back in August, the company unveiled their first and only smartphone, the ZUK Z1, with some pretty impressive specs at a low price. The device was available only in China but earlier this week ZUK announced their plans for the international release. As for today, the Z1 has been launched in the Middle East in collaboration with Comtel, a large local handset distributor, and Souq.com, a big e-commerce platform operating in the region. Additionally, in the coming weeks the phone will be hitting selected markets in Europe and Southeast Asia.
Running Cyanogen OS, the 5.5-inch 1080p display handset is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5 GHz, coupled with 3 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. Maybe the most impressive feature is a monster 4,100 mAh battery that should provide enough juice for a long, long day of heavy usage, with a USB 3.0 Type-C connector that allows a higher charging power. The phone resembles the iPhone a lot, with a metal frame with rounded edges, with a home button that also serves as a fingerprint scanner in the front, and available in White and Space Gray. Not that looking like Apple’s smartphone is a bad thing, as similar designs sell very well in China and other developing markets.
The device is likely to bring some stiff competition in the market as it offers really nice specs for only $300, competing directly with the likes of Asus Zenfone 2, OnePlus 2 and Xiaomi handsets, while offering the 4,100 mAh battery, 3 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, considerable more than any other device of the same price range or even more expensive ones. When it opened pre-orders in China back in August, ZUK received over 1.5 million orders in only 2 days and it will be interesting to see how it will sell in foreign markets. Jakarta is set to receive the device on November 3rd and we should have more details about the European release shortly, as the company is set to unveil more details today, so, stay tuned for more news.