Rumours of JiaYu’s demise have been surfacing and resurfacing for some time, but today’s release of the JiaYu S3+ means the company are still in business.
Cast your minds back to the start of the year and JiaYu released the then flagship JiaYu S3 phone. Their first all plastic bodied flagship device ever, and a phone that boasted a Mediatek MT6752 chipset, 3GB RAM and a decent camera.
After the JiaYu S3 the company when quiet, the brand was restructured and the rumours of the factory doors closing for good (like iOcean) began.
Today though, our normally quiet contact at JiaYu was online and told us to expect their new JiaYu S3+ model in the post. As the name suggests the JiaYu S3+ is based on the old S3 but with a few slight changes.
Gizchina News of the week
The JiaYu S3+ costs 859 Yuan and will come with 3GB RAM as standard now (the previous model came in 2GB RAM and 3GB RAM versions). The MT6752 chipset (which we believe Mediatek are no longer producing) has been replaced with the octacore MT6753 running at 1.3Ghz.
A Sony IMX214 rear camera takes photos at 13 mega-pixels with a large F2.0 aperture. This is the same set up as the Oppo Find 7, which even by today’s standards has a capable camera.
The 8.9mm body is plastic again with 3000mAh battery, 5.5-inch FHD Corning Gorilla Glass display and 16GB internal memory. A front 5 mega-pixel Samsung sensor with F2.4 aperture is in charge of selfies and the phone comes with dual SIM cards and LTE support (B3 B7 B20).
Other features include NFC, OTG, dual stereo speakers and Android 5.1 out of the box. So JiaYu are still in business and we will be reviewing the JiaYu S3+ very soon! Keep posted.
So this is actually the totally same phone with a slower SoC? (Send from a Jiayu S3 3GB by the way)
Little dissapointing, although with a price of 140$ it’s a good deal.
With plus I expected a Jiayu S3 with Helio P10 SoC and 4GB ram and 32GB rom or something, but no. Hopefully the Jiayu S4 will be better.
Haha, seems like you posted this while I was typing my very similar comment! Indeed that is also what I would expect for the S3+. Weren’t there reports that the S4 was going to be super low budget ($100) and be using a leadcore processor? I sincerely hope those were false/ incorrect rumours..
Why would you hope those rumors are false? A $100 phone from a company with strong as a reputation as Jiayu would be great for them as a company. It would bring in a whole new legion of customers especially in developing markets where the demand for cheaper phones is at an all time high. Jiayu selling more phones is a good thing if your a fan of Jiayu. Just because they are planning a budget phone doesn’t mean they aren’t also planning a midrange phone.
They don’t need that excursions in the position that they are now. They need to make a astonishing mid range model as close to vanila & without un necessary bullshits & with a good pricing. If they play they card’s well they will have great sails, more costumers & more fans.
I would go with 5-5.2″ FHD Amoled, 3~4GB of RAM, 16GB storage (+SD card slot) & pick S620 SoC along with Samsung main camera sensor. If they can keep the price @ 200~220$ it would sell as a hot cuky.
Would consider adding a Wolfson audio codec DSP for additional 30$ in a special edition (they don’t have to necessarily earn on it if they can differentiate with it).
For loyal fans like you and people on this site that makes sense. But from a business standpoint, the $100 segment is the biggest in the industry and they would sell 5x as many as the phone you described. In tun they would have more to invest in producing the midrange phone you want. Right now this company was on the verge of closing it’s doors. They need to do all they can to stat open without spending too much on RDP (research, development, production).
First of all they are not big enough to sell 5x phones. Secondly the $100 segment is high risk one as the competition is sharp & actually R&D costs the same & even more as you earn less & you still need to maintain your product (software). I didn’t suggest that they really develop something as it’s all based on already made parts. Would like that they work on switching to more user friendly Open sourced peripherals (sensors, NFC, WiFi & cetera) even if they cost more along with competitive SoC’s with open stuck (QC msm Code Aurora). This would cost them more in final (mid range) product (around 15%) but it would bring a easier, cheaper & long standing support + many users along with developers would love this & this would form a community. I even calculated a bigger fee for R&D In the price wille retaining same profit.
It’s much better to have a product that differentiate ist positive from competition in all aspects users really want (quality, longevity, battery life, suport) than cheap one that comes with out of all of that just to have a bigger quantity sails & ruin they good name. You can’t do this if you’re main goal is to produce as cheap as possible product (as price difference gets much bigger for things I mentioned). I did also mention as close to vanilla or AOSP (would more prefer AOSP) as they can get to lower the mantinance price & give a better user experience. I really do think that upper mid range is a sweet spot where they can hit competition & achieve all mentioned goals wille making a good enough profit.
One last thing they already got burned in $100 segment.
Now please think a little about it as it perfectly makes sense.
& don’t worry their is enough space even on emerging markets for a good mid range products & it’s all much easier until you are a really big manufacturer.
I really do like JiaYu & wish them all the best.
They certainly can earn 5X as much thanks to countries like India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam all now having greater access to Chinese phones than they ever did before. These are among some of the biggest growing markets in the world and these are were $100 phones are needed and selling more than ever. The hottest segment with the highest sales are phones with SD410 and MT6735/53 chipsets. Xiaomi for instance sells more Redmi’s than all the Mi phones combined. Upper midrange is a market that doesn’t exist in several of the largest markets due to wage disparity. Gionee is one of the biggest sellers in the Indian market and the phones they are selling the most of are all under $100. For Jiayu to have any shot of surviving into the future they need a budget phone for emerging markets. An upper midrange won’t attract the new customers Jiayu sorely needs, especially with increased competition in that segment from Xiaomi, LeTV and Meizu.
Lol how can you earn more if your manufacturer capacity is limited by selling cheap bad devices?
They are small & thats they main advantage compared to Huawei, Lenovo, Xiaomi, Meizu & I am certain that each of them would overrun them in 100$ segment.
Main point it they wouldn’t have a problem of selling a good mid range products in quantities they can manufacture.
You don’t make a cheap bad device, you make a low cost quality device. Phones with a 6735 and 2 GB of RAM are selling like hot cakes. The market is a lot bigger for those phones than it is for $200 phones where they would get swallowed by Meizu and Xiaomi. The only ones who would buy that midrange phone over a Note 3 or Metal or LeTV is the diehard Jiayu fans like you clearly are. Main point is they can manufacture more of the cheaper phones than they can the midrange phones. The more of the cheaper phones they sell the better that midrange phone would be.
Take a look what TCL is doing with Alcatel as the best example how good this can work, even a Alcatel main purpose is to get a good traditional distribution chain on traditional markets (services & other things needed to get In to the legitimate sails along with GSM carriers on contract offering).
I do like a normal warranty in the land along with on contract offering & it combined together very well compensate for a price difference (28~30%).
This is better strategy on every market.
TCL is a much larger company than Jiayu. That is a strategy if you have the capital to back it up, Jiayu does not. Jiayu needs to build that captial so they can one day switch to a model like that, the only way to build that capital is to attract new customers in new markets. And right now with the way the global economy is sinking, the $100 segment has more customers than all the others combined.
TCL made its biggest mark (and continues to do so) with the cheaper models. For years the only phones that sold well in the US where the cheap phones people could buy off contract. Even today the sales of the Idol models don’t even come close to the sales of the budget models. It’s the same with Blu, they made their biggest market with their Studio and Life series of phones. The only way for Jiayu to survive long term is to make a budget phone.
It depends what you consider your budget is. JiaYu made so far by making a real good mid range phone’s & it’s a first ever Chinese brand that got known by quality of their desirable products in this category ever! Competition is getting stiffer & they need to do more to make it. Best way is that they continue to do what they are best at. On the other hand F series whare not a quality product nor good backed up all do they had successful sail on home market, at the end they costed JiaYu more (considering it’s reputation) then they earned in a first place.
I didn’t say they are as TCL nor that they need to be I brought that up as the real world example.
I asked you to think about what I said but you clearly didn’t do that.
I don’t even know a good sub 100$ phone up to date.
At the end I want you to consider two cheap phones that still have flows even they are close to that what I would consider good & desirable.
First one is in sub 100$ category & it really is a surprise considering who made it. It’s a Elephone Trunk.
Second one is in mid of the mid range & it’s a Alcatel Flash 2.
Currently it’s available only in Asian Pacific region but when it gets available more globally or let’s say on contract it will represent a best budget option for most folks.
One more thing much worse phones from famous brands sell for considerable more money with worse or same spec (20~30> than Flash 2 & more than 2x than Trunk).
Now 200~250$ for the phone that will satisfy needs of all types of consumers (gamers, music lover’s, those who want a good battery life along with good performance & cetera) or simply to say that every single one of us would like to have its not to much & I am certain that most of us would pay that much. Why would it cost that much? Simply because it’s not possible to make one like that for less money currently.
I did think about what you said but your not thinking logically. You are thinking like a fan of Jiayu who wants the best possible phone for your needs, not like someone who is running a business. If you want Jiayu to survive now and in the future they need a budget phone to do so. I lived in Thailand where the Alcatel Flash 2 is sold, it’s not even a blip on the radar there. Comparing anything to an Elephone is a mistake in itself, they are a company which has been known to skimp on quality. What did sell well in Thailand? The Microsoft Lumia 640, a phone that can be found for right around the $100 mark in most countries. In fact Asia is what has kept Windows Phone alive so long. What led Motorola comeback in the US? The Moto G and Moto E, two budget phones.
The problem with your thinking is you don’t realize for a lot of people in the world $200-250 is a lot of money for a phone, and in many countries (ask our friend in Pakistan) that $200-250 phone is sold for well over $300 when taxes get added on. It’s not possible to make the phone YOU want for less than that price. But not everyone has the same needs/value as you. What are the top 3 selling phones in the world today? The first two are the Iphone 6 and Galaxy S6, after them is the Xiaomi Redmi 2. Xiaomi sells more Redmi 2’s than any other phone, because the markets they sell phones in (the same markets Jiayu sells in) the demand for cheaper phones is at an all time high.
O boy I have a news for you.
Logic that I am profesor of by the way:
If you sell a 1000 of product of units A that are lo lv & lo everything else & you sell 1000 of products unit B that it’s a mid range price & everything else, wile your profit is 20% what do you think selling witch product you will earn more? To remind you can’t produce more & that their is a secure market for 1000 units, their is not for 100 000 units but you anyway can only produce a 1000 of them.
It’s in a best interest of any manufacturer to give to the costumers what ever they need (or at least they think they need) & one who does it first or come on time with better pricing survives & makes profit.
I am not a so huge fan of any manufacturer as I am a big fan of technology.
I didn’t say that 200-250$ is a pity cash on the contrary it’s a lots of money (at least for me) but still I find it expectable at least on most developed markets. Best comparation for this I have it’s a GPU PC market where that pricing is sweat spot for gamers.
I my friend live in much more fucked up (ex EU) country than you do.
I know a fairly more about lo budget phones than you do.
I don’t see Elephone Trunk as a bad product never the less most up to date Elephone’s are. Quality is OK & I can guarantee that 8MP back shutter is good at least concerning sensor (I still have a Samsung Galaxy s3 neo with same one).
Motorola did rise with Moto G but that whose in time when that segment whosent covered very well.
She Samsung I have I paid less where I live than the Moto G second gen costed at the time in country where I live (mostly because Samsung couldn’t sell it so it’s slashed a price a lot), but enough of that. 3rd Gen Moto G (2GB RAM version) costs 2x the price of Elephone Trunk & it’s close to 200$. Now how exactly that comes in other price category than 200~250 one I aimed at with 5x better phone?
All In all that’s not a very good buy this day’s at least in my book.
People at Philippines don’t share your opinion about Alcatel Flash 2.
Somehow I am keen to trust people’s voice. All do I didn’t see in a long time so high rated product. You must agree with me that their is a fairly good offering of phones on Philippines. So what makes this one bumps out so much? It’s not on paper spec, it’s even under the competition in some aspects (not so good HD IPS with Dragon trail glass). It’s user experience along with very good composed set of abilities; good cameras (un matched in this price category up to date), really 99% vanila Android & really good battery life.
Reed some opinions:
http://www.lazada.com.ph/catalog/reviews/?sku=AL672ELBAT14ANPH
This is not for purposes of advertising anyone.
M$ had some success in the beginning of year with cheap Lumias no emerging markets but not to the quality of they products (which is not so bad) & certainly not because of the OS (that I hate) but because of availability of they products along with distribution & service. You see its not a price of the Lumia 640 that makes it so attractive but the fact that you can get it literally free on budget contact deal. This brings me back to the Alcatel that is present on most traditional markets with all I mentioned for unfortunate Nokia.
If I can get a Flash 2 for a price of around 80$ on the one year contract (or for some 15$ on two years) for a 25$ contract commitment that I pay anyway then that is a very good deal for me. All that with normal 2 year warranty, in land costumer & repair service and from normal OEM that actually delivers a regular software updates. I whose in the search of something like that as Huawei pricing policy get really bad & Lenovo is not so good either. Not that their are other Chinese manufacturer’s that have a traditional distribution chain in most parts of the world. So you see things are actually much more complex than that they seams on the first look.
I won’t even discuss about Redmi 2 witch in my opinion isn’t so good product in any way along with that that they still lack distribution network along with better software support. For me JiaYu S3 is a probably the best budget phone of the year (for those who booth it at the beginning of the year) even the price of the 3GB model along with NFC chip from EU warehouse whose more than 200$ (up to 230). At the end they did honorably comply costumers & it whose quality (enough) product. We can argue about this but at the end user opinion caunts most.
You’re “professor” comment is useless without production costs added in and it’s based on the assumption that they sell every unit they produce. It completely ignores costs, demand and economic climate. Outside of a classroom it is useless. Jiayu’s production capacity is determined by the cost of the phone they are producing and the profit margin for each unit. Without knowing those we are arguing hypothetical situations.
It whose a simplified example as much as it culd be. I stated a 20% profit margins. Assembly & mantinance costs are mostly the same. Component cost is other thing along with repair costs determined by quality of used components. Now use a little deductive logic. If they didn’t had problems in selling a S3 model in for them large quantities why would they have any in seeing a much better product with just a little bit bigger pricing?
Naturally it’s hypothetical as neither of us actually make phones. ?
At the end of the day we are both fans of Jiayu we just have differing opinions on what they need to do to survive long term.
“it’s a first ever Chinese brand that got known by quality of their desirable products in this category ever!” First ever according to who……?
While the SoC is slower it is also better on battery life so if your not someone who needs a lot of power this still could be considered a “+”. Really depends on the end user.