An Android smartphone that’s likely the upcoming Alcatel Idol 5 has been certified by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) earlier this week, as revealed by a set of official testing documents published by the federal agency on Thursday. The device that’s intended for the U.S. market is bearing the model number 6060C and Chinese tech giant TCL Communication asked for a standard six-month confidentiality period from the FCC before the agency releases more product details about the handset, indicating that the Huizhou-based company will be releasing the Alcatel Idol 5 stateside by late 2017.
According to previous reports, the Alcatel Idol 5 will sport a 5.2-inch display panel featuring a Full HD resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The handset is expected to be powered by Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 625 system-on-chip (SoC) and 3GB of RAM, in addition to boasting 32GB of internal storage space that will likely be expandable by at least 128GB of memory via an integrated microSD card slot. The Alcatel Idol 5 is expected to be released running Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, enhanced with a proprietary user interface from its manufacturer. Recent reports suggested that the smartphone won’t feature an NFC adapter, though it should support all other contemporary connectivity options. The device is expected to sport a 12-megapixel rear camera capable of shooting 4K video content, while its top bezel is said to house an 8-megapixel sensor.
Overall, it seems that TCL is working on another mid-range Android smartphone that should appeal to consumers who are primarily interested in getting the most value for their money, which is in line with the company’s recent product strategy for Alcatel-branded devices. The Alcatel Idol 5 also passed through the Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) earlier this week, bearing the model number 6060X, which indicates that TCL is planning to release at least two variants of the handset in the United States, though that particular version was tested with Android 7.0 Nougat instead of 7.1.1 that was previously listed by some mobile benchmarks. While it remains to be seen when the Alcatel Idol 5 launches in the country, more details on its availability and pricing will likely follow in the coming months.