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Exclusive: JiaYu S4 will be made, but this $100 isn’t what we were expecting

AndiSeptember 18, 2015

A message from out of the blue this morning from JiaYu has confirmed the JiaYu S4 is real and will be launched at the start of December.

This morning JiaYu surprised me with a couple of pieces of news, but it is the confirmation of the JiaYu S4 that really surprised me.

For months now we haven’t been sure if JiaYu would ever release an S4 model. Renders posted on the JiaYu forum ended up being fan made, and until today JiaYu as a company hadn’t officially made any comment about such phone,however it is real and it has a planned launch date of the start of December.

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There is a but though. While we have all been patiently waiting for a high-end 5-inch phone from JiaYu and hoped the JiaYu S4 would be such a phone, it appears JiaYu are hoping the device will be an entry-level device with specs and pricing to match.

In our conversation with the phone maker this morning, the team at JiaYu confirmed that they hope the phone will retail at only $100 and will use affordable hardware to reach this price point.

JiaYu S4 specifications at this stage are a 5-inch display, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, Mediatek MT6753 chipset, 2-5 mega-pixel front camera and 8 mega-pixel rear.

So it’s not the phone we had hoped, but the JiaYu S4 is on the way, it will be affordable and it will be on sale soon. What do you think?

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About the author
Andi

- September 18, 2015
  Nope, and made confusing by the fact JiaYu.de posted a picture of the new ECCO E06 and saying that it is the new JiaYu S4….. To confirm our news about the S4 came directly from the official JiaYu office located above the JiaYu factory.
  - Vlada
    September 18, 2015
    But the Ecoo E06 is supposed to have 5,5″ screen. It has very good specifications but the screen kills it for me.
  - Sebastian
    September 18, 2015
    We received that picture by Jiayu China…..sorry for the confusion.

Stef
September 18, 2015
…what a surprise (not :/ )
It’s not even compact ( < 5 inches) … well I simply buy from other companies these days anyway, there are simply better priced and supported phones on the 5 inch + segment. One of the great things about Jiayu is/was that it was the only android (apart from Sony) in the whole wide world that created relatively high end compact phones.
I understand that the market has moved on 5+ inches, but that also kills the identifying mark of Jiayu. I can see why they would care about their profits (so that not to be foreclosed again) instead of actually creating sth unique and useful, I just can't feel anything but disappointment that our segment of the market (those who like phone sized phones) has been completely abandoned… Oh well…
Bye bye Jiayu (from a very loyal customer -not only for self purposes but also for friends).
- CiroD
  September 18, 2015
  I thought exactly the same. And about the profit, I doubt that there may be more profit on $100 mediocre phone than in a sub $200 good phone.
- Vlada
  September 18, 2015
  Even if 80% of people, who buy new phones would want a 5″+ phone, there are still these 20% of people like me and you, who would like to get a 4,5″ or 4,7″ compact phone. And they have currently no other choice then overpriced Sony.
  If there would be a sub 5″ phone with at least MT6752 (or better Helio P10/X10), made of metal, with gorilla glass, dual sim, SD slot, LTE 800 MHz and NFC, I would immediately pay over $200 for it.
  Offer the Jiayu S3 but downsized to 4,7″ and it would be an instant buy for many people.
  - Stef
    September 18, 2015
    Apparently we (people with our preferences) are close to 1% or less. Just look at phone releases. For every one mid-high end compact phones there are like 100 hundred 5”+ phones. Especially in the Asian market, people there went full phablet mode, even 5 inchers (2-handed phones themselves) are a rarity there.
    So -like I said- I understand why they chose this size, people would always choose shiny things (big screens) over usefulness (one-handed use)… It’s just sad it is all …
    - Vlada
      September 21, 2015
      I don’t think we are just 1%. Most people in Europe want small phones. Even 5″ is too big for most of my friends and relatives. But they buy big phones because there is no other choice.
      It would be interesting to know, how many Zopo Speed 7 and Speed 7 Plus phones were sold. I don’t think it will be just 1% of the non “Plus” model.
      - Stef
        September 21, 2015
        In your particular example the two phones have very relevant absolute sizes, so I can’t see anyone not buying the plus model for reasons apart from price. Anything from 4.71″ inches and up is impossible to use one handed for a big part of the population (those less than 6 feet tall) , so if you buy a phone that is big already why don’t just go all the way and buy the biggest size that is still (kind of) pocket able?
        I think that’s the reason why 5.5″ is so overused, it’s better than 5″ in most of the ways. But if we were to talk about 4.7″ or 4.5″ then things would change as those size are usable one handed (again depending on the size of the person), and it seems that most people simply don’t care for “one-handidness” that’s why no company release flagship or even mid-rangers in those sizes (OK there is Sony, but nobody else).
- Stan
  September 18, 2015
thelion
September 18, 2015
adieu Jiayu

Burs
September 18, 2015
Jiayu. Your slow reactions to market changes will push you back to the stone age, and will make your phones hardly noticeable. For me personally, Jiayu is no longer “the phone”, it’s rather “just another phone”. There’s plenty of other phones to choose from, considering your new specs and prices. Since you became just mediocre, now I’ve completely lost interest in you. Goodbye, and good luck with your new customers.
Vitorio Rehatta
September 18, 2015
no no no..why jiayu use 6753 they have S3 with 6572,for me better use or wait until x10 or x20 release.. its better for me… give us suprise like jiayu s3 not like this..

Lars
September 18, 2015
How to ruin a good brand … way to go Jiayu.
Steven Fox
September 18, 2015
At 100$ if it`s released within two-three weeks would be great, but by the end of November I suspect somebody might beat them to the punch. Already we have 6732 phones costing around 100$ and 6735 with 2GB of Ram close to the same pricepoint, so a 6753 phone for 110$ is undoubtedly on it`s way.
Gyuri Kiss
September 18, 2015
- - Dante
    September 18, 2015

Sirrr
September 18, 2015
If it will have a FHD display (unlikely) and a 3000 mah battery (possible, F2) then we’ll have a winner. Otherwise…
Technerd
September 18, 2015
- E8hffff
  September 18, 2015
Chickens
September 18, 2015
That’s what you get for releasing phones like S3 and help build a good community around it, if Jiayu went the way of Elephone and UMi, releasing phones after phones and forgetting about customer service, then Jiayu might have a better cash bank right now.
- Stef
  September 18, 2015
  Elephone P8000 actually have sources released and an active XDA forum.
  In my mind Jiayu is not even close to that.
  And BTW that’s the smart way anyway. Just release a phone + good sources. Then it would be a piece of cake even to build your own rom or at least wait for someone to do it for you. It’s cheap with results of much higher quality than any Rom than an OEM does.
  Elephone P8000 running stock is a dream (great build quality + best software in the world -stock android).
  - Simon
    September 18, 2015
Update G4S to mtk6572 + 3gb ram…
Marco Lancaster
September 18, 2015
Meh Jiayu, a MT6753 coming in December? by the time the Helio P10 will be the standard in mid-tier. Jiayu what you need to realize is that most of consumers don’t really care for the price of your products hiting the ground. You always made good devices that justify the price slight above competition. No one will care if your price don’t be ridiculous cheap, not be expensive of course, but we are more concerned about the entire. The S3 was a really good phone, maybe the best MT6752 alongside Gionee S7, but the latter way more expensive. We want to continue to see your good products rather than just putting things on the market like others. Make a S4 in two versions, I assume that the MT6752 can’t be get by OEMs anymore, so move to Helio P10, make a small variant of S4 with 4.7 and a bigger one. Put NFC on that thing and decent battery life with a price tag mot above $200 and will sold like water in desert.
And for the next year already start to tease maybe a S5 with Helio X20, because we costumers are prepared to the next level, so you guyd need to prepare too!
- Michael
  September 18, 2015