At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this month, ZTE had some significant announcements in their smartphone lineup, two of the more intriguing models, the ZTE Blade V8 and the Blade V8 Pro were out on the floor for some hands-on assessments. However, it now looks like a third variant they are calling the Blade V8 Lite will be hitting the streets with Android 7.0 Nougat in tow. The certification, shown below, is clearly dated January 24 and states the name of the device and its operating system. Generally, the certification process is done shortly before the device is released and available for purchase and could be as early as February or March. ZTE will be at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) show in February and promised they would be showing a “breakthrough concept phone,” however, the ZTE Blade V8 Lite is hardly a device of that stature, although the Blade V8 Lite should certainly be in attendance.
Having multiple variations of a smartphone is common practice and certainly a familiar concept with ZTE. They are known for bringing out a low-end, mid-range, and high-end models in the past, so the Blade V8 Lite, Blade V8, and Blade V8 Pro would fit the pattern nicely. We do not know for certain what the specifications will be – there is not even a picture available. Just taking an educated guess, it is suspected to have a 5.0-inch HD display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The ZTE Blade V8 Lite will most likely drop the dual camera feature and could sport a 5-megapixel or 8-megapixel rear camera, and it is expected to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor with 2GB of DDR3 RAM and 16GB of storage. From the certificate, we know that it will have Dual SIM slots, 4G LTE, and be running Android Nougat out of the box. This is nice to know because many times the low-end models come bearing Android Marshmallow.
The ZTE Blade Pro Lite is expected to be available in China, Nigeria, Indian the UK, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the US. There is no indication of the price, but it will certainly be less than the $230 the Blade V8 Pro costs. The Blade V8 series offers a great value when you compare the specs and the pricing and the ZTE Blade V8 Lite should do well in the emerging nations or on a prepaid plan.