60 Best MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!

Just over a month ago we put together a list of top 30 Chinese phones which come equipped with the new and improved 1.5Ghz MT6589Tquad-coreprocessor. Now 5 weeks on that number has grown! Here are our 60 best MT6589Tquad-core Android phones from China!

We have updated the original list to include newly launched models from the past 5 weeks, while also adding additional details from the phones which have already gone on sale. We have tried to avoid listing to many phones here that we have only seen in leaked photos or heard of in rumours and only listed phones we are sure will launch soon or are already available. Where possible links to additional information, reviews or videos have been added to the listing.

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The list is quite comprehensive and includes phones from $160 to over $300, and with screen sizes ranging from 4.5-inch to 6.5-inch! With so much variety we’re sure there is a Chinese Android smart phone to suit everyone!

Top 60 MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!

[table id=42 /]

Top 60 MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!

We will keep this listed updated every month or so, if there are any phones or phablets you can see we have missed then please let us know in the comments section and we’ll do our best to include them next time round.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

About the author
Andi

yoav
July 30, 2013
5-inch 1920 x 1080 display,4GB RAM, 32GB memory,, 2000mAh battery, 3 mega-pixel front, 13 mega-pixel rear
Well, i don’t think that the youth have 4GB RAM 😉
Nice one Andi. Pls how can I reach you Andi?
Hellvetta
July 30, 2013
FAEA F2 still have no that specs. Official site claim only 1 Gb, ram 4 Gb rom and accu 2300 mah only… Or you know something “insider” info, Andy? 🙂
- July 30, 2013
  I have been hearing about this phone for a month now. I logged in and asked FAEA about it three weeks ago and they still have responded to my question. So I think it is BS until you actually see it for sale! On that list there are 29 phones that are SOON/TBA/PREORDER/ANY-DAY-NOW…..WHATEVER! I think were all tired of waiting for all these great phones to make it to the market!!!!!

Demetrio
July 30, 2013
Enhanced version of FAEA F2 has been already announced, together with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM, and probably a powerful battery.
But, Andy, what about your F2 test? I’m still waiting for it 😉
- Hellvetta
  July 30, 2013
  Dimetrio, as you can see on their (FAEA) official forum, they just make a topic “Does Faea F2 Phone Really Need 2GB RAM?” with no any anounces. It seems they are only planning to make all these changes… But your answer there was fully justified 😉
  - Demetrio
    July 30, 2013
    http://forum.faeamobile.com/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=55&pid=594&fromuid=14
    That poll you mentioned, I think, was created just to see if making an extra effort to build “elite” version would be useful to sell much more units. Maybe MTK problems managing more than 1GB RAM are not fully solved.
- miket247
  July 30, 2013
  “Announced” and “actually for sale” are two different things. Everybody likes fantasy but then you get reality. Half the phones on this aren’t available, and probable won’t be a month from now! +1 on that Question to Andy. Whens that test going to make it to the net?

Paarkhi
July 30, 2013
I think it would be nice to have a list of released and ready to be purchased phones instead of just announced phones
- July 30, 2013
  Amen to that brother! Too much hype, and then its just show me the beef(or phones, in this case)? Half the phones on this list ARE NOT available to buy! Whats wrong with this picture…..
BigboyPL
July 30, 2013
iOcean X7 Youth Turbo 4GB RAM for 1099 yuans ? Thats awesome 😀
Dino
July 30, 2013
U Mentioned all ??i think
u Missed Out “BBC LION”
geo
July 30, 2013
WRONG SPECS ON FAEA F2
http://www.faeamobile.com/faea-f2-techspec
1/4 RAM
23OO BATTERY
Nice table, thanks for that 🙂

LinuxMint
July 30, 2013
Unfortunately this all bears little relevance for the North American market, unless the Chinese phone manufacturers start using more sophisticated, at least 5-band, UMTS aka W-CDMA plus HSPA+ capable radio chipsets and I am not even getting started on LTE.
Unless these 3G operating frequencies (850/900/1700+2100/1900/2100) (are included as well, all that fanfare is for nothing, since those shiny new smart phones remain not much more than pimped-up basic GSM devices on this side of the globe 🙁
- Patrick
  July 30, 2013
  The same applies to Europe. Approximately 98% of all Chinese phones are just shiny 2G phones with spotty 3G connection.
  - July 30, 2013
    Most if not all Chinese phones have the 3g 2100mhz band, which is the only one Europe uses. So, I’m not sure why you feel that way.
    - Ily
      August 1, 2013
      So what exactly do I need to look for if I buy a phone to use in USA. What network? I don’t understand, please explain.
      - Use this website to see which band(s) your carrier uses http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/
        Then, check if the phone you’re looking at has the correct bands.
        LinuxMint
        August 2, 2013
        GSM with its four globally used bands (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) is already supported by all Chinese phones/phablets, but that is not good enough, if you want to do more than just making phone calls and having poor EDGE data rates.
        You need to look for for 5-band UMTS/WCDMA/HSPA+ support instead.
      - LinuxMint
        August 2, 2013
        The 2100 MHz band 1, used all over the world BUT North and wide parts of Latin America, is of very little use in N.A., if you don’t want to be stuck with poor EDGE data rates.
        T-mobile and AT&T mostly use a special case for HDSPA+42 and LTE, called AWS band, where the uplink happens in the 1700MHz band and your downlink data comes to you in the 2100MHz band. Therefore in order to work, BOTH bands need to be available on your device and operate together.
        Alternatively in many regions here the 1900MHz band can be used as some kind of UMTS fallback with both carriers, but only with (much) lower data-rates.
        Bottom line, to be useful in N.A. your 3G UMTS aka WCDMA device MUST support the 1700+2100MHz band4/AWS AND the 1900MHz band2/PCS to get good data rates, which at the moment, basically none but the some $500+ Chinese flagship devices do and then they usually depend on Qualcomm SoCs and radios or comparable like all the other international (and therefore expensive) big brand flagship devices. At least then you also get multi-band LTE support with it.
        It takes at least one, maybe 2 more SoC and radio chip generations from Mediatek and such to find their way into cheap China phones/tablets, before they catch up with the current 5-band (850, 900, 1700+2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) state of the art UMTS/WCDMA hardware, the international “big boys” are using since quite some time and then, the whole mess, only much worse, starts all over again, once you also want to use LTE. Then you need radios that support 24+ bands to operate on a world wide level. Welcome to the zing world of organized chaos.
        The FTC/US screwed it up for consumers and manufacturers, by insisting on doing stuff differently from the rest of the world, once again, just like they did with the transition to digital TV, using ATSC, which not many else globally care for, rather than DVB-T/-C.
        For more details on mobile see:
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS-FDD
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_frequencies#Carrier_Frequency_Use
        
        mesnerf
        November 11, 2013
        same screwed up things in canada. also need 1700/2100 for some providers. mt6167 is the rf chip for the mt6589
akash
July 30, 2013
andi please insert a sort by option for every column…would make this awesome list much more useful..
MarcOlivier
July 30, 2013
Where can I buy the Neo N003 Youth? its sold out in lightake I want a legit website .

Guest
July 30, 2013
5-inch 1920 x 1080 display,4GB RAM, 32GB memory,, 2000mAh battery, 3 mega-pixel front, 13 mega-pixel rear
Well, i don’t think that the youth have 4GB RAM 😉
Great list. How about posting top 60 Chinese smartphone powered by Rock chip?
Guest
July 30, 2013
Nice one Andi. Pls how can I reach you Andi?

Guest
July 30, 2013
FAEA F2 still have no that specs. Official site claim only 1 Gb, ram 4 Gb rom and accu 2300 mah only… Or you know something “insider” info, Andy? 🙂
- Guest
  July 30, 2013
  I have been hearing about this phone for a month now. I logged in and asked FAEA about it three weeks ago and they still have responded to my question. So I think it is BS until you actually see it for sale! On that list there are 29 phones that are SOON/TBA/PREORDER/ANY-DAY-NOW…..WHATEVER! I think were all tired of waiting for all these great phones to make it to the market!!!!!
- Guest
  August 6, 2013
  Right now, FAEA F2 have MTK6589T 1Gb 16Gb with NFC, Price will at 1149RMB.

Guest
July 30, 2013
Enhanced version of FAEA F2 has been already announced, together with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM, and probably a powerful battery.
But, Andy, what about your F2 test? I’m still waiting for it 😉
- Guest
  July 30, 2013
  Dimetrio, as you can see on their (FAEA) official forum, they just make a topic “Does Faea F2 Phone Really Need 2GB RAM?” with no any anounces. It seems they are only planning to make all these changes… But your answer there was fully justified 😉
- Guest
  July 30, 2013
  http://forum.faeamobile.com/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=55&pid=594&fromuid=14
  That poll you mentioned, I think, was created just to see if making an extra effort to build “elite” version would be useful to sell much more units. Maybe MTK problems managing more than 1GB RAM are not fully solved.
- Guest
  July 30, 2013
  “Announced” and “actually for sale” are two different things. Everybody likes fantasy but then you get reality. Half the phones on this aren’t available, and probable won’t be a month from now! +1 on that Question to Andy. Whens that test going to make it to the net?

Guest
July 30, 2013
I think it would be nice to have a list of released and ready to be purchased phones instead of just announced phones
- Guest
  July 30, 2013
  Amen to that brother! Too much hype, and then its just show me the beef(or phones, in this case)? Half the phones on this list ARE NOT available to buy! Whats wrong with this picture…..
Guest
July 30, 2013
iOcean X7 Youth Turbo 4GB RAM for 1099 yuans ? Thats awesome 😀
Guest
July 30, 2013
U Mentioned all ??i think
u Missed Out “BBC LION”

GS88
July 30, 2013
WHY isn’t there a phone (yet) with the MT6589T AND a 4.0″ / 4.3″ screen?! Why must all these phones be so big?! Not everyone wants a big 5.0″ phone…
- July 30, 2013
  I have started considering 5″ a small phone… I can’t wait to see a real 7″ no bezel phone to purchase… but there are others like you that are still waiting for a 4″ hefty phone… I guess we’ll both wait… 🙁
  - Louisclub
    July 30, 2013
    i’m also waiting for a no bezel phone.. be it 4.5 or 5.5 inches. but it seems it only exist in conceptual idea.

Guest
July 30, 2013
WRONG SPECS ON FAEA F2
http://www.faeamobile.com/faea-f2-techspec
1/4 RAM
23OO BATTERY
July 30, 2013
I would suggest separating the list into two, one with the “small” 4.5 to 5″ and another one for “large” 6 to 6.5″…
Samuel
July 30, 2013
Hey everyone.. Check this out…. Zopo’s latest 6inch 1080p fhd phone with corning gorilla glass screen
mtksj.com/html/MTKshoujizixun/4404.html

Guest
July 30, 2013
Unfortunately this all bears little relevance for the North American market, unless the Chinese phone manufacturers start using more sophisticated, at least 5-band, UMTS aka W-CDMA plus HSPA+ capable radio chipsets and I am not even getting started on LTE.
Unless these 3G operating frequencies (850/900/1700+2100/1900/2100) (are included as well, all that fanfare is for nothing, since those shiny new smart phones remain not much more than pimped-up basic GSM devices on this side of the globe 🙁
- Guest
  July 30, 2013
  The same applies to Europe. Approximately 98% of all Chinese phones are just shiny 2G phones with spotty 3G connection.
- Guest
  July 31, 2013
  Most if not all Chinese phones have the 3g 2100mhz band, which is the only one Europe uses. So, I’m not sure why you feel that way.
- Guest
  August 1, 2013
  So what exactly do I need to look for if I buy a phone to use in USA. What network? I don’t understand, please explain.
- Guest
  August 2, 2013
  Use this website to see which band(s) your carrier uses http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/
  Then, check if the phone you’re looking at has the correct bands.
- Guest
  August 2, 2013
  The 2100 MHz band 1, used all over the world BUT North and wide parts of Latin America, is of very little use in N.A., if you don’t want to be stuck with poor EDGE data rates.
  T-mobile and AT&T mostly use a special case for HDSPA+42 and LTE, called AWS band, where the uplink happens in the 1700MHz band and your downlink data comes to you in the 2100MHz band. Therefore in order to work, BOTH bands need to be available on your device and operate together.
  Alternatively in many regions here the 1900MHz band can be used as some kind of UMTS fallback with both carriers, but only with (much) lower data-rates.
  Bottom line, to be useful in N.A. your 3G UMTS aka WCDMA device MUST support the 1700+2100MHz band4/AWS AND the 1900MHz band2/PCS to get good data rates, which at the moment, basically none but the some $500+ Chinese flagship devices do and then they usually depend on Qualcomm SoCs and radios or comparable like all the other international (and therefore expensive) big brand flagship devices. At least then you also get multi-band LTE support with it.
  It takes at least one, maybe 2 more SoC and radio chip generations from Mediatek and such to find their way into cheap China phones/tablets, before they catch up with the current 5-band (850, 900, 1700+2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) state of the art UMTS/WCDMA hardware, the international “big boys” are using since quite some time and then, the whole mess, only much worse, starts all over again, once you also want to use LTE. Then you need radios that support 24+ bands to operate on a world wide level. Welcome to the zing world of organized chaos.
  The FTC/US screwed it up for consumers and manufacturers, by insisting on doing stuff differently from the rest of the world, once again, just like they did with the transition to digital TV, using ATSC, which not many else globally care for, rather than DVB-T/-C.
  For more details on mobile see:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS-FDD
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_frequencies#Carrier_Frequency_Use
- Guest
  August 2, 2013
  GSM with its four globally used bands (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) is already supported by all Chinese phones/phablets, but that is not good enough, if you want to do more than just making phone calls and having poor EDGE data rates.
  You need to look for for 5-band UMTS/WCDMA/HSPA+ support instead.
- Guest
  November 11, 2013
  same screwed up things in canada. also need 1700/2100 for some providers. mt6167 is the rf chip for the mt6589

Guest
July 30, 2013
andi please insert a sort by option for every column…would make this awesome list much more useful..
Guest
July 30, 2013
Where can I buy the Neo N003 Youth? its sold out in lightake I want a legit website .

July 30, 2013
Does the jiayu g4 mtk6589t thin battery version also have otg or just advance?
Thks
Since when is the cubot gt99 with mt6589T?
Guest
July 30, 2013
Great list. How about posting top 60 Chinese smartphone powered by Rock chip?
Adrian
July 30, 2013
Some WCDMA 850&1900 Mhz?
Thanks!
- LinuxMint
  July 31, 2013
  That’s NOT cutting it!
  Gotta have the 1700(up)+2100(down)MHz AWS band as well, if you don’t want to lose out on HDSPA+42, else you end up with only EDGE or, if you are REALLY lucky, HDSPA+21.
Guest
July 30, 2013
WHY isn’t there a phone (yet) with the MT6589T AND a 4.0″ / 4.3″ screen?! Why must all these phones be so big?! Not everyone wants a big 5.0″ phone…
- Guest
  July 31, 2013
  I have started considering 5″ a small phone… I can’t wait to see a real 7″ no bezel phone to purchase… but there are others like you that are still waiting for a 4″ hefty phone… I guess we’ll both wait… 🙁
- Guest
  July 31, 2013
  i’m also waiting for a no bezel phone.. be it 4.5 or 5.5 inches. but it seems it only exist in conceptual idea.

Guest
July 31, 2013
I would suggest separating the list into two, one with the “small” 4.5 to 5″ and another one for “large” 6 to 6.5″…
Guest
July 31, 2013
Hey everyone.. Check this out…. Zopo’s latest 6inch 1080p fhd phone with corning gorilla glass screen
mtksj.com/html/MTKshoujizixun/4404.html
Angus
July 31, 2013
Star S5 (Butterfly) 5.0″ IPS HD Screen (1280*720) Android 4.2 Smart Phone with MTK6589T Quad Core 1GB RAM 8GB ROM 12MP Camera. US$179 on Alixpress

Guest
July 31, 2013
Does the jiayu g4 mtk6589t thin battery version also have otg or just advance?
Thks
Since when is the cubot gt99 with mt6589T?
Guest
July 31, 2013
Some WCDMA 850&1900 Mhz?
Thanks!
- Guest
  July 31, 2013
  That’s NOT cutting it!
  Gotta have the 1700(up)+2100(down)MHz AWS band as well, if you don’t want to lose out on HDSPA+42, else you end up with only EDGE or, if you are REALLY lucky, HDSPA+21.

Guest
July 31, 2013
Star S5 (Butterfly) 5.0″ IPS HD Screen (1280*720) Android 4.2 Smart Phone with MTK6589T Quad Core 1GB RAM 8GB ROM 12MP Camera. US$179 on Alixpress
iMat2.9
July 31, 2013
Please include for all phones a list of whether OTG, MHL, NFC, etc are supported, your table does nothing to show which are the “BEST”.
This will help most people decide which will suit them. I for one don’t want to individually search out 60 phones to check.
- LinuxMint
  August 2, 2013
  … and even more important, the supported UMTS/WCDMA radio frequencies. For those devices to work as well in North and wide parts of Latin America as they do globally, they NEED to support 850, 900, 1700+2100, 1900, 2100 MHz.
  And then for LTE the whole mess starts all over again, only much, much worse.

Guest
August 1, 2013
Please include for all phones a list of whether OTG, MHL, NFC, etc are supported, your table does nothing to show which are the “BEST”.
This will help most people decide which will suit them. I for one don’t want to individually search out 60 phones to check.
- Guest
  August 2, 2013
  … and even more important, the supported UMTS/WCDMA radio frequencies. For those devices to work as well in North and wide parts of Latin America as they do globally, they NEED to support 850, 900, 1700+2100, 1900, 2100 MHz.
  And then for LTE the whole mess starts all over again, only much, much worse.

Job_CF
August 2, 2013
For newbies such as myself, it is easy to get lost in the sea of Chinese phone manufacturers, phones and dealers. This comprehensive list of MT6589T is very welcome.
Would it be possible to make a list of Five MT6589T Best Buys based on your vast knowledge and experience?!
Thanks 🙂

Guest
August 2, 2013
For newbies such as myself, it is easy to get lost in the sea of Chinese phone manufacturers, phones and dealers. This comprehensive list of MT6589T is very welcome.
Would it be possible to make a list of Five MT6589T Best Buys based on your vast knowledge and experience?!
Thanks 🙂
David Peterson
August 4, 2013
This table you can’t appear to sort by the rankings for each field like you could with the last one you posted, could update it? Thanks! It was very very useful.

ptkbra
August 4, 2013
Does anyone have experience with the brand Pulid? Saw a Pulid F13 MTK6589T, 1080p, 2GB RAM, 32GB, 2500mAh for US$297 on Antelife and it sparked my interest. Would really appreciate your opinion.
Cheers,
Pat
Guest
August 4, 2013
This table you can’t appear to sort by the rankings for each field like you could with the last one you posted, could update it? Thanks! It was very very useful.

Jerome
August 4, 2013
All this smartphones are great but in Europe we need 900 and 2100 MHz for the 3G, not 850 MHz. Don’t forget the 900 MHz in your products ! ZTE and HUAWEI have 900 and 2100 MHz…
When chinas smartphones will be upgrated with the 4G ? It’s starting here in Europe.

Guest
August 4, 2013
Does anyone have experience with the brand Pulid? Saw a Pulid F13 MTK6589T, 1080p, 2GB RAM, 32GB, 2500mAh for US$297 on Antelife and it sparked my interest. Would really appreciate your opinion.
Cheers,
Pat
Guest
August 5, 2013
All this smartphones are great but in Europe we need 900 and 2100 MHz for the 3G, not 850 MHz. Don’t forget the 900 MHz in your products ! ZTE and HUAWEI have 900 and 2100 MHz…
When chinas smartphones will be upgrated with the 4G ? It’s starting here in Europe.
Beo
August 7, 2013
Bad Link in Ui X2 turbo review —> Zopo C2 Platinum 🙂
Guest
August 7, 2013
Bad Link in Ui X2 turbo review —> Zopo C2 Platinum 🙂

Jenni
September 3, 2013
FAKE 6589T
Andy
Be wise not to mention phones you didn’t TESTED.
I open a case (Paypal) that for example, the N01. S6 is a fake 6589T.
I also noticed today that they remove the line saying it’s a 1,5Ghz and now 1,2Ghz
But i have screendump as proof.
It’s frustrated that sellers are fooling consumers with fake specs.
- Jenni
  September 3, 2013
- September 3, 2013
  Pretty sure there is a MT6589T version, in fact GizChina.es are testing one with the Turbo processor
  - Jenni
    September 5, 2013
    I hope so
    But not the fake 6589T chinapadd is selling (sold to me)
    Ypu paid for a 1.5ghz and received a 1,2Ghz CAUSE there is no T version of N0.1 S6 YET .
Guest
September 3, 2013
FAKE 6589T
Andy
Be wise not to mention phones you didn’t TESTED.
I open a case (Paypal) that for example, the N01. S6 is a fake 6589T.
I also noticed today that they remove the line saying it’s a 1,5Ghz and now 1,2Ghz
But i have screendump as proof.
It’s frustrated that sellers are fooling consumers with fake specs.
- Guest
  September 3, 2013
  The seller is Chinapadmall
- Guest
  September 3, 2013
  Pretty sure there is a MT6589T version, in fact GizChina.es are testing one with the Turbo processor
- Guest
  September 5, 2013
  I hope so
  But not the fake 6589T chinapadd is selling (sold to me)
  Ypu paid for a 1.5ghz and received a 1,2Ghz CAUSE there is no T version of N0.1 S6 YET .

Gizchina News of the week

Top 60 MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!

Top 60 MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!

Andi

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