ZUK Z2 Rio Edition announced making it the cheapest 820 phone on the market

Just as Xiaomi was wowing fans with their new Redmi Pro and Notebook, newcomers ZUK were also hosting a surprise launch of their own.

The Lenovo backed smartphone maker today announced a new ZUK Z2 model named the ZUK Z2 Rio Edition. The device has been launched to celebrate this years Olympics and does so by becoming the most affordable Snapdragon 820 powered phone on the market.

Chinese shoppers will be able to buy the ZUK Z2 Rio at a normal retail price of 1599 Yuan however if customers choose to order through selected online stores they will receive a 100 Yuan price cut making the phone just 1499 Yuan ($224), the same as the entry-level Redmi Pro.

Gizchina News of the week

Join GizChina on Telegram

While the ZUK Z2 Rio doesn’t have the dual camera design of the new Xiaomi, the device does boast a powerful Snapdragon 820 chipset, 5-inch FHD display, 8 mega-pixel front camera, fast charging, and a 3500mAh battery plus fingerprint scanner.

The base version of the phone will give users 3GB RAM and 32GB memory to play with while the higher end version of the phone will get 4GB RAM and 64GB memory.

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

Good price.
realjjj
July 27, 2016
The 4GB+64GB is the default Z2 that launched a while ago.
Only the cheap one should be new.
- Trayanee
  July 27, 2016
  This one is only 5incher, not 5.2 so its probably completely new phone, looks even made of plastic so chances are its comming in two versions which are both new.
  - SnowyCat
    July 27, 2016
    no, the 5″ z2 (not pro) launched a long time ago, available for like 270€-280€
    its made out of glass front and back and side is some weird glass fibre thing
    but the downside from the pro version is worse camera, thicker, no health scanning thing like the hearth monitor and not all bands like band 20
    - Trayanee
      July 27, 2016

vijay sud
July 27, 2016
This might be the ZUK Z2 India might get. Lenovo weapon against Xiaomi in India. But Lenovo be quick.
- Muhammad Yasir
  July 27, 2016
  - vijay sud
    July 27, 2016
    These guys are’nt in love with India, it is the mighty India Rupee and market size which brings these brands to us. India’s attraction will only go up as market is HUGE. and growing.
    - Muhammad Yasir
      July 27, 2016
      im just pointing out ur luck :p , what can u say … as a tech nerd im envious.
      i just want to have the same easiness and market diversity w.r.t brands as you people have…
      no hate man 🙂
      i just hope they realise the Pakistani market too , its also massive in its own and people here are becoming more and more brand-aware and tech-aware. this is the PERFECT moment to seize the local markets , early bird advantage i’d say.

Beloved Chairman Lei Jun
July 27, 2016
- SnowyCat
  July 27, 2016
  i find the software to look pretty good, why?
- balcobomber25
  July 27, 2016
  The software on Zuk’s is a lot better and different than the software found on Lenovo phones. And the hardware is the same that is used by most other flagships including Xiaomi. Lenovo doesn’t manufacture many components.
- Muhammad Yasir
  July 27, 2016
  oh boy … earning good money is a nightmare :p
Varun Varma
July 27, 2016
As long as software is good, SD820 + 5″ FHD + 3500mah should equal very good battery life
balcobomber25
July 27, 2016
Not sure I would want anything associated with the Olympics at this point, what a mess that is turning out to be. Does this phone come up with free sewage like the housing for Olympic athletes?
- Muhammad Yasir
  July 27, 2016
  - balcobomber25
    July 27, 2016
    - Muhammad Yasir
      July 27, 2016
      been living in a cave i gess 😀
      jk , uni times are draining… spent most time sleeping or waiting for Redmi Pro release or PoGO release in Asia
      - Riccardo Benzoni
        July 27, 2016
        Muhammad Yasir
        July 28, 2016
        but im happy with the price 😀
        Riccardo Benzoni
        July 28, 2016
- Alex
  July 27, 2016
mf1gt3r
July 27, 2016
Good price.
realjjj
July 27, 2016
The 4GB+64GB is the default Z2 that launched a while ago.
Only the cheap one should be new.
- Trayanee
  July 27, 2016
  This one is only 5incher, not 5.2 so its probably completely new phone, looks even made of plastic so chances are its comming in two versions which are both new.
- SnowyCat
  July 27, 2016
  no, the 5″ z2 (not pro) launched a long time ago, available for like 270€-280€
  its made out of glass front and back and side is some weird glass fibre thing
  but the downside from the pro version is worse camera, thicker, no health scanning thing like the hearth monitor and not all bands like band 20
- Trayanee
  July 27, 2016
Ray Bel
July 27, 2016
- Airyl
  July 27, 2016
vijay sud
July 27, 2016
This might be the ZUK Z2 India might get. Lenovo weapon against Xiaomi in India. But Lenovo be quick.
- Guest
  July 27, 2016
  ur so lucky you have literally EVERY chinese brand in your local market 😒
- vijay sud
  July 27, 2016
  These guys are’nt in love with India, it is the mighty India Rupee and market size which brings these brands to us. India’s attraction will only go up as market is HUGE. and growing.
- Guest
  July 27, 2016
  im just pointing out ur luck :p , what can u say … as a tech nerd im envious.
  i just want to have the same easiness and market diversity w.r.t brands as you people have…
  no hate man 🙂
  i just hope they realise the Pakistani market too , its also massive in its own and people here are becoming more and more brand-aware and tech-aware. this is the PERFECT moment to seize the local markets , early bird advantage i’d say.

Beloved Chairman Lei Jun
July 27, 2016
- SnowyCat
  July 27, 2016
  i find the software to look pretty good, why?
- balcobomber25
  July 27, 2016
  The software on Zuk’s is a lot better and different than the software found on Lenovo phones. And the hardware is the same that is used by most other flagships including Xiaomi. Lenovo doesn’t manufacture many components.
- Guest
  July 27, 2016
  oh boy … earning good money is a nightmare :p
Muhammad Yasir
July 27, 2016
looks like SD 820 is either getting cheaper … or someone at Lenovo has a very good understanding with dudes at Qualcomm…
- MattD
  July 27, 2016
  Sure sd820 is getting cheaper as time passes by, but it wasn’t that expensive to begin with: I’ve read some reports (don’t know how much reliable, but somewhat reliable nonetheless) which said that every sd top chip launches for around 40$… Soc is hardly the reason why samsung ask you 800$ for its phone at launch ?
  - Hakim Farouk
    July 27, 2016
    Actually, most of the mainstream brands like Samsung, LG and etc are expensive because they include marketing cost and stuff into their retail price. Xiaomi, Oneplus spend much less in physical marketing and more towards online advertising outside of China and plus other factors that allows them to lower the price of their retail. Unlike Samsung being on billboards, Television and so on.
    You can refer here for some of the explanation.
    http://www.gsmarena.com/galaxy_s6_edge_is_samsungs_most_expensive_phone_to_build-news-11898.php
  - Muhammad Yasir
    July 27, 2016
    all the more reason to hate samsung then …
    btw , why do they ask u that absurd $800 for ?
    - Hakim Farouk
      July 27, 2016
      I actually understand why they charge so high though. that’s why i never complain on those mainstream players costing. Just the R&D alone is crazy. These mainstream guys are the ones who push smartphone technology forward and it is all thanks to that high R&D cost alone. Other smaller players don’t really spend as much on R&D as these guys. They use technology that was founded by the mainstream players.
      - Muhammad Yasir
        July 27, 2016
        agreed. the smaller guys just rip off the BEST parts that the big guys spent billions researching on..
        wow. this actually makes sense. could be used for world peace 😀
        Hakim Farouk
        July 27, 2016
        Haha. Yeah. Check this out, cost to build an S7. and this is not inclusive of R&D, Logistic, marketing, human resouce and etc
        Sansa
        July 27, 2016
        Don’t forget the support and infrastucture. Which in case of the chinese brands is almost non existent.
        
        SnowyCat
        July 27, 2016
        same can be said for samsung in my country, like 2 repair centers outsourced obv. i mean looka t apple even in my country in big cities is an apple store but the money you pay for samsung is all marketing
        they have the same underpayed employees to build the devices in the same place
        they do have a lot going on like maybe developing new technology to use but lets be hoenst..most of what you pay for the samsung phone is for the big guys in the company and marketing
        
        Hakim Farouk
        July 28, 2016
        The cost for R&D is high as well or even higher perhaps. A lot of the technologies that are being used in our phones now are thanks to that high cost of R&D itself that big companies like Samsung, LG, Motorola and etc pumped in. Companies like Xiaomi, OnePlus and etc just buy the technology, really. Most of the R&D on the smaller companies are on getting the technology together into a phone rather than technological breakthroughs that you get from the big guys.
        
        Hakim Farouk
        July 28, 2016
        I wouldn’t say almost non existent tho. Companies like Xiaomi is pretty reliable if it comes to your country officially, ofcourse. Constant bug fixes and MIUI updates. They have service centres in my country too. Im sure the other bigger chinese brands like Lenovo, Meizu, Zte are pretty reliable too. But I know the small ones like Elephone are not. All from my own experience
        Hakim Farouk
        July 27, 2016
- - Muhammad Yasir
    July 28, 2016
    - Muhammad Haris
      July 28, 2016
      I have seen you here first , then on propak …. and seeing you comments for quite some time I can say you are COMPLAN BOY 😀
      My suggestion for you is to go for used sets and don’t spend more than $200 on phone because the speed at which new smartphones are releasing you phone will be outdated in no time
      - Muhammad Yasir
        July 29, 2016
        COMPLAINING*
        hehe .. i want something that can last me quite sometime and still not be all outdated come the new bunch (which happens every quarter)

Varun Varma
July 27, 2016
As long as software is good, SD820 + 5″ FHD + 3500mah should equal very good battery life
zeca_BR
July 27, 2016
Andi, we wait you in Rio de Janeiro.
When do you arrive?
You can stay here in my house.
Welcome to Brazil!!
Ivo001
July 27, 2016
What has changed? Only a smaller rom option?
balcobomber25
July 27, 2016
Not sure I would want anything associated with the Olympics at this point, what a mess that is turning out to be. Does this phone come up with free sewage like the housing for Olympic athletes?
- Guest
  July 27, 2016
  whats wrong with the Olympics 😀 ??
- balcobomber25
  July 27, 2016
  Turn on the news lol.
- Guest
  July 27, 2016
  been living in a cave i gess 😀
  jk , uni times are draining… spent most time sleeping or waiting for Redmi Pro release or PoGO release in Asia
- Riccardo Benzoni
  July 27, 2016
  forget redmi pro, it won’t be 99$ 😀
- Alex
  July 28, 2016
  Or maybe as soon as you buy this phone you will get mugged.
- Guest
  July 28, 2016
  but im happy with the price 😀
- Riccardo Benzoni
  July 28, 2016
Ray Bel
July 27, 2016
- Airyl
  July 27, 2016
Guest
July 27, 2016
looks like SD 820 is either getting cheaper … or someone at Lenovo has a very good understanding with dudes at Qualcomm…
- MattD
  July 27, 2016
  Sure sd820 is getting cheaper as time passes by, but it wasn’t that expensive to begin with: I’ve read some reports (don’t know how much reliable, but somewhat reliable nonetheless) which said that every sd top chip launches for around 40$… Soc is hardly the reason why samsung ask you 800$ for its phone at launch 😁
- Hakim Farouk
  July 27, 2016
  Actually, most of the mainstream brands like Samsung, LG and etc are expensive because they include marketing cost and stuff into their retail price. Xiaomi, Oneplus spend much less in physical marketing and more towards online advertising outside of China and plus other factors that allow them to lower the price of their retail. Unlike Samsung being on billboards, Television and so on.
  You can refer here for some of the explanation.
  http://www.gsmarena.com/galaxy_s6_edge_is_samsungs_most_expensive_phone_to_build-news-11898.php
- Guest
  July 27, 2016
  all the more reason to hate samsung then …
  btw , why do they ask u that absurd $800 for ?
- Hakim Farouk
  July 27, 2016
  I actually can understand why they charge so high though. that’s why i never complain on those mainstream players costing. Just the R&D alone is crazy. These mainstream guys are the ones who push smartphone technology forward and it is all thanks to that high R&D cost alone. Other smaller players don’t really spend as much on R&D as these guys. They just use the technology that was founded by the mainstream players.
- Guest
  July 27, 2016
  agreed. the smaller guys just rip off the BEST parts that the big guys spent billions researching on..
  wow. this actually makes sense. could be used for world peace 😀
- Hakim Farouk
  July 27, 2016
  Haha. Yeah. Check this out, cost to build an S7. and this is not inclusive of R&D, Logistic, marketing, human resouce and etc
  http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s7_bill_of_materials_is_255-news-17222.php

Gizchina News of the week

Andi

Today in Home