The year 2016 is expected to see much more happenings in the smartphone world compared to this year. While 2015 saw technology getting cheaper, 2016 may see few more new technologies being added to the devices. Many smartphone manufacturers are already expected to reveal their latest flagships in the first month (January 2016) itself which will set the tone for the whole year.
Here is a list of devices that are expected to be launched in January 2016.
Lenovo K4 Note
Earlier this month, Lenovo teased a smartphone which is expected to be the K4 Note. Just recently, Lenovo has issued another teaser confirming that the phone will have 3 GB RAM.
Besides, the so called Lenovo K4 Note is expected to have 32 GB of inbuilt memory, metal finish and fingerprint sensor. Not much is known about the so called Lenovo K4 Note but looking at the current K3 Note model, one could expect a really good device in a very competitive price point.
The Lenovo K3 Note, which is priced at Rs 9,999, features a 5.5 inch full HD touchscreen backed by a 1.7 GHz octa core processor and the Android 5.0 operating system. There is 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage and a 32 GB micro SD card slot in the phone.
The 8 mm thin Lenovo K3 Note weighs 150 grams with a 3000 mAh Li-Po battery that claims to offers 36 hours of 3G talktime. The handset offers a 13 megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 5 megapixel front camera. The front camera comes with three lens element that claims to click distortion free images and there is auto selfie beautification feature as well.
This dual SIM smartphone offers 4G connectivity, WiFi (b/g/n) with Hotspot feature, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, FM radio, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS, and Micro USB 2.0 port.
Samsung Galaxy S7
Samsung always releases its flagship device in the first quarter of every year. This time everyone is expecting the next flagship to be named as Galaxy S7 (as the last one named S6). Since the company launched S6 EDGE and S6 Edge+ variants earlier, many are also expecting the S7 Edge and S7 Edge+ in 2016 as well.
There are however contradictory reports about the timing of their launch. While earlier reports indicated at the January launch, few reports are now claiming that Samsung may reveal these devices during the Mobile World Congress event in February.
As far as features are concerned, the S7 is expected to come with a pressure-sensitive screen, similar to 3D touch display of Apple iPhone 6s. Besides, it is expected to have USB Type C port, micro SD card slot, a 5.2 inch Quad HD display, 4 GB RAM, and the new Snapdragon 820 processor.
(The above image is claimed to be one of the earliest renders of S7 and was published by Gsmarena earlier)
Xiaomi Mi 5
Xiaomi has been issuing teasers for its upcoming flagship, expected to be called as Mi 5, for quite a while. It too is said to have the pressure-sensitive screen, similar to 3D touch display of Apple iPhone 6s. An alleged image of the phone has also been surfaced some time back, showing the device with a home key.
Besides, earlier leaks pointed out that the phone may have octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, but few other reports claimed that the company may go for Snapdragon 820 or Helio X20 processor. Other than that the purported Mi 5 expected to have 4 GB of RAM, 5.3 inch Quad HD display, 16/64 GB internal storage, 16 megapixel rear camera and a 3030 mAh battery.
###PAGE###
Microsoft Lumia 1050
It is rumoured to be launched in January as well. As per rumours it will have a 50 megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization and Autofocus features. Besides, the Lumia 1050 is expected to come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 CPU, 4GB RAM and 128 GB Internal Memory along with micro SD card support.
HTC Fitness tracker
Meanwhile, HTC is said to be relaunching its earlier released HTC Grip in January 2016. The original HTC Grip has a 1.8 inch PMOLED screen with 32 x 160 pixels resolution. It comes in three sizes: Small: 51.9 x 68.2 x 22.5 mm, Medium: 60.98 x 74.57 x 22.5 mm; Large: 68.92 x 85.24 x 22.5 mm.
The HTC Grip is dust and water resistant (IP57 certified) and has a pedometer to count your steps as well as GPS to track your location. It is compatible with Android 4.3 and iOS 7 or later devices. The fitness Band comes with Bluetooth and has a 100 mAh battery that claims to offer around 2.5 days usage.
Microsoft Surface Pro 4
Well this is exactly not a new device to be launched but for Indians it will be one. It will be launching in India in January 2016. The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is basically a tablet which has a multiposition kickstand. Microsoft is also offering a keypad for this tablet (which is sold separately) using which you transform this tablet into a laptop.
The Surface Pro 4 has a 12.3 inch PixelSense display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It runs on 6th Gen Intel processor and expandable RAM facility – you can increase its RAM to up to 16 GB. It has a micro SD card slot as well. The hybrid tablet also offers 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE) and full size USB 3.0 port.
Besides, the tablet has an 8 megapixel rear facing camera, 5 megapixel front camera and access to all Office apps.
###PAGE###
Huawei Honor 5X
Huawei is planning to launch Honor 5X smartphone in the Indian market by January end. Huawei Honor 5X was launched in China earlier in October this year. The smartphone has the Android 5.1 Lollipop on top of which lies the EMUI 3.1 user interface. It features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920p) IPS display and comes in two variants — one with 2GB RAM and the other with 3GB RAM. In China, the 2 GB RAM models costs about Rs 10,000 while the other model is priced at around Rs 15,000.
The Dual-SIM Honor 5X smartphone has a hybrid SIM slot which means its second SIM slot can be used for a micro SD card as well. The Honor 5X is powered by the 64-bit, octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 SoC (four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.7GHz + four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.2GHz) and Adreno 405 GPU. It offers 16GB of internal storage and can further be expanded to 128GB via a micro SD card.
It packs a 3000 mAh removable battery and sports a 13 megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 5 megapixel front facing camera. It has a fingerprint sensor too.
LeTV Le 1s and Le Max
Letv, a Chinese handset player, will enter the Indian handset market in January 2016. The Le 1s, which was unveiled in China earlier in October at 1099 RMB (approx Rs 11,247), is said to be priced lower than its production cost. It comes with an all-metal unibody, along with mirror fingerprint sensor “Le Touch” and fast-charging technology.
It features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) IPS display. The smartphone is powered by Mediatek flagship Helio X10 Turbo 2.2GHz octa-core processor which is paired with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
The Le 1s runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop operating system with the EUI 5.5 custom user interface on top of it. The smartphone comes with a reversible USB Type-C with fast-charging SpeedVolt technology and gets the power from 3000 mAh battery. On the camera from, the smartphone offers 13-megapixel rear auto-focus camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front camera for selfies and video calling. The company claims that the camera lock focusses in just 0.09 seconds. The dual-SIM handset measures 151.1 x 74.2 x 7.5 mm and weighs 169 grams.
On the other hand, The Le Max has a 6.3 inch QHD (1440×2560 pixels) Resolution display with a Pixel density of 464ppi and 0.8mm bezel. It runs on Android 5. 1 and is powered by a 64-bit 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC coupled with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. It has a fingerprint scanner as well.
Le Max features a 21-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilisation, Sony IMX230 sensor, dual-LED flash, and an f/2.0 Aperture lens, alongside a 4-UltraPixel front-facing camera with an f/2.0 aperture. It may come in two variants – 64GB and 128GB internal memory. It will come with a 3400mAh battery along with support for 4G connectivity.
HTC One X9
It is expected to be revealed during the Consumer Electronics Show or the CES in January. As per reports, the X9 may have MediaTek Helio X10 MT6795 processor and a 3000mAh-capacity battery.
Besides, it is rumoured to have 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, a 4-UltraPixel front snapper, 5.5 inch full HD display, 16 GB internal storage and 2 GB RAM.
Few reports though claim that it may be launched at the Mobile World Congress event in February.