5 Chinese phones that people are going crazy for this October


These are the 5 Chinese phones that everyone is talking about this week!

The Chinese phone market isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, and familiar phone makers are launching as many phones today as they were this time last year, but these are the models grabbing most of the attention!

LeEco Le Pro 3

leeco pro 3

Starting at 1799 yuan ($269), the Le Pro 3 utilizes the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 and a minimum of 4GB of RAM, outperforming both the OnePlus 3 and the ZTE Axon 7 in price/performance alone.

The phone has proven to be amazingly popular in China where the device sold 500,000 units in its first day of sales!

Specification highlights for the Le Pro 3 include a 5.5-inch display, 16 mega-pixel F2.0 rear camera, 4070mAh battery, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and rear fingerprint scanner.

Xiaomi Mi5S Plus

Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus

The Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus sports full-metal design, a 5.7″ screen and it’s powered by the fastest Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 clocked at 2.35Ghz.

The two cameras will be both 13MP from Sony and will differ as in one has a sensor which captures colors while the other one is only black and white, just like what happens on the Huawei P9. The two lenses can be used alone but can also work simultaneously through ClearSight technology, thus giving richer details and less overall noise.

The Xiaomi handset carries a 3800mAh battery chargeable with Quick Charge 3.0 and it will come in two versions, the cheaper one with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage (UFS 2.0), and the pricier variant with 6GB of RAM + 128GB of built-in memory (UFS 2.0).

Smartisan T3

smartisan t1

Gizchina News of the week


Smartisan have already had limited success with their T1 and T2 phones and will soon be launching the T3.  The new phone will come with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM, 64 or 128GB of storage, and Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Smartisan OS 3.0 running on top of it.

Read Also:  Oppo Find X8 Launch Date Confirmed; Coming With Dimensity 9400

Included is an IMX298 Sony sensor powering a 16MP rear camera and an 8MP front facing camera. There is also an average 3200mAh battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0 built in for some quick juicing. Chances are this phone won’t be launched internationally but those of you planning to import one will have to fork over around $270.

Elephone S7

elephone_s7-1000x641

The S7 will be Elephone’s answer to the growing population of MediaTek Helio X20 phones, including but not limited to the Vernee Apollo Lite.

Specs of the phone include a 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080p ‘bezel-less’ display with 2.5D glass panel, and memory options including 2GB/16GB, 3GB/32GB and a top of the range 4GB/64GB. Pricing isn’t set yet, but we don’t expect it to cost all that much.

Vernee Apollo 2

vernee_1

Vernee might be a relatively new smartphone maker but they have managed to get quite the reputation for themselves. The Apollo 2 sounds to be their most ambitious phone to date and will include hardware normally reserved for expensive big brand phones.

The Vernee Apollo gets a Helio X25 equipped phone with 4 GB RAM, 64 GB ROM, 21 Mpix main camera with Sony IMX230 sensor and 2K display with 541ppi. Allegedly the Apollo should also have an additional accessory capable of shooting 360° videos!

Of course there are many many other Chinese phones that are coming to the market and we will create new lists when a new bunch of exciting Chinese phones are announced. Keep posted!

 

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.

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90 Comments

  1. Juno
    October 3, 2016

    Leeco, xiaomi, smartisan… and then elephone and vernee? elephone and vernee? on the same list? really?

    • Yeti hand
      October 3, 2016

      you’re right elephone is so much worse than Vernee what an insult to Vernee.
      Seriously do you even know Vernee products??

      • Juno
        October 3, 2016

        they have 2 smartphones, good start but nothing to write home about yet. Not Xiaomi, LeEco, Smartisan for sure.

        • Yeti hand
          October 3, 2016

          they have 2 WELL BUILT phones that THEY UPDATE regularly that what make the difference between xiaomi and elephone, so come back once you know a bit more about them ;).
          OH xiaomi, leeco and smartian had 1 or 2 phones at one moment, what made them bigger is the quality of the service the same quality Vernee is providing right now and elephone will NEVER you catch my drift???

          • yalok
            October 4, 2016

            Well build? joking? Definitely on the same level as elephone (which I agree is bad).
            I’ve read the forums where people who bought Tor are having discussions (4pda), since I thought of buying it for my friend. Most of them complained about hardware issues with screen, touch sensor, fingerprint sensor, camera.

            3rd OTA? WOW! Let’s talk when it will be 33rd.

            Are you Vernee paid?

            • princetom
              October 4, 2016

              I totally disagreed with u.

            • yalok
              October 4, 2016

              no problem, but why?

            • Yeti hand
              October 4, 2016

              Yeah I’m paid!! I have job 😉
              Too bad for your friends, but please name a phone which doesn’t have any issue??
              meanwhile the thor already got 5 ota
              the apollo lite 3 and it’s not over
              Vernee so much better than elephone they’re not even comparable LOL

    • sere83
      October 3, 2016

      lol i know thats ludicrous

    • bro-reac
      October 4, 2016

      You never know; this page might be an Elephone employees forum who are seing the company turning around. Considering the efforts they put in copying or designing the S7 probably they are thinking about thinking about their clients. LOL

      • careeste
        October 4, 2016

        Yes ,ofc they are thinking about their clients and ‘fans’. Do you want a s7 ?yes ,ofc. Ok , you go spam fake comments and you ll get 2 cents and 2 $ discount to buy and s7.Their ‘fans’ are happy now.

        • bro-reac
          October 4, 2016

          lol.
          So fake promos.

  2. johala02
    October 3, 2016

    The article showing the Apollo Lire. For those who want to see Apollo. Go to Vernees website to the blog section.

  3. sere83
    October 3, 2016

    Where you getting that price for smartisan t3? Smartisan devices are very expensive i have serious doubts it will cost that little

    • careeste
      October 4, 2016

      You are right. T3 will be 500$ at least.Basically andy says it will cost more than 270$:,Chances are this phone won’t be launched internationally but those of you planning to import one will have to fork OVER AROUND $270.’ Why 270? because in another article about the T3 -other phones with similar specs are mentioned having this price range:,, We recently talked about the Zuk Z2/Lenovo Z2 Plus which features similar specs at a low $270 price point. The recently announced LeEco Le Pro 3 boasts slightly better at the same price.” So thats competition s price of 270. Smartisan will cost way more than that. So who is really going crazy about this T3 ? who will buy this insted of le pro 3?Same 3 people who bought their last phones i presume.

  4. ha
    October 3, 2016

    Chinese phones that people are going crazy for this October…. Elephone… No

  5. goodwill
    October 3, 2016

    Ele shouldn’t be on the list. Thanks to a flock of fake commenters coming in after elephone had set up the ele job thing, you might think that people are going crazy for elephone, but, not really. infamous is more precise..

    Anyways, I’m looking forward to Smartisan T3 😉 been eyeing it since T2

    • yalok
      October 4, 2016

      And vernee fake commenters too..

      • Ibrahim Bahakim
        October 4, 2016

        tbh I heard a lot of “real” people saying Vernee is a good brand.
        As for me hell I don’t want to try any of those new unknown brand.. I’d rather put my money on Xiaomi or LeEco..

  6. Dany
    October 3, 2016

    I prefeer LeEco, also if the price is so high for my pockets!

    • careeste
      October 4, 2016

      Same

  7. Guest
    October 3, 2016

    Leeco, xiaomi, smartisan… and then elephone and vernee? elephone and vernee? on the same list? really?

    • Yeti hand
      October 3, 2016

      you’re right elephone is so much worse than Vernee what an insult to Vernee.
      Seriously do you even know Vernee products??

    • sere83
      October 3, 2016

      lol i know thats ludicrous

    • Guest
      October 3, 2016

      they have 2 smartphones, good start but nothing to write home about yet. Not Xiaomi, LeEco, Smartisan for sure.

    • Yeti hand
      October 3, 2016

      they have 2 WELL BUILT phones that THEY UPDATE regularly that what make the difference between xiaomi and elephone, so come back once you know a bit more about them ;).
      OH xiaomi, leeco and smartian also had 1 or 2 phones at one moment, what made them bigger is the quality of the service the same quality Vernee is providing right now and elephone will NEVER you catch my drift???

    • yalok
      October 4, 2016

      Well build? joking? Definitely on the same level as elephone (which I agree is bad).
      I’ve read the forums where people who bought Tor are having discussions (4pda), since I thought of buying it for my friend. Most of them complained about hardware issues with screen, touch sensor, fingerprint sensor, camera.

      3rd OTA? WOW! Let’s talk when it will be 33rd.

      Are you Vernee paid?

    • bro-reac
      October 4, 2016

      You never know; this page might be an Elephone employees forum who are seing the company turning around. Considering the efforts they put in copying or designing the S7 probably they are thinking about thinking about their clients. LOL

    • princetom
      October 4, 2016

      I totally disagreed with u.

    • careeste
      October 4, 2016

      Yes ,ofc they are thinking about their clients and ‘fans’. Do you want a s7 ?yes ,ofc. Ok , you go spam fake comments and you ll get 2 cents and 2 $ discount to buy and s7.Their ‘fans’ are happy now.

    • Yeti hand
      October 4, 2016

      Yeah I’m paid!! I have job 😉
      Too bad for your friends, but please name a phone which doesn’t have any issue??
      meanwhile the thor already got 5 ota
      the apollo lite 3 and it’s not over
      Vernee so much better than elephone they’re not even comparable LOL

    • bro-reac
      October 4, 2016

      lol.
      So fake promos.

    • yalok
      October 4, 2016

      no problem, but why?

  8. johala02
    October 3, 2016

    The article showing a picture of the older device Apollo Lite. For those who want to see the new model. Go to Vernees website to the blog section. And the name is just “Vernee Apollo” not Vernee Apollo 2.

  9. sere83
    October 3, 2016

    Where you getting that price for smartisan t3? Smartisan devices are very expensive i have serious doubts it will cost that little

    • careeste
      October 4, 2016

      You are right. T3 will be 500$ at least.Basically andy says it will cost more than 270$:,Chances are this phone won’t be launched internationally but those of you planning to import one will have to fork OVER AROUND $270.’ Why 270? because in another article about the T3 -other phones with similar specs are mentioned having this price range:,, We recently talked about the Zuk Z2/Lenovo Z2 Plus which features similar specs at a low $270 price point. The recently announced LeEco Le Pro 3 boasts slightly better at the same price.” So thats competition s price of 270. Smartisan will cost way more than that. So who is really going crazy about this T3 ? who will buy this insted of le pro 3?Same 3 people who bought their last phones i presume.

  10. Guest
    October 3, 2016

    Chinese phones that people are going crazy for this October…. Elephone… No

  11. goodwill
    October 3, 2016

    Ele shouldn’t be on the list. Thanks to a flock of fake commenters coming in after elephone had set up the ele job thing, you might think that people are going crazy for elephone, but, not really. infamous is more precise..

    Anyways, I’m looking forward to Smartisan T3 😉 been eyeing it since T2

    • yalok
      October 4, 2016

      And vernee fake commenters too..

    • Ibrahim Bahakim
      October 4, 2016

      tbh I heard a lot of “real” people saying Vernee is a good brand.
      As for me hell I don’t want to try any of those new unknown brand.. I’d rather put my money on Xiaomi or LeEco..

  12. Dany
    October 3, 2016

    I prefeer LeEco, also if the price is so high for my pockets!

    • careeste
      October 4, 2016

      Same

  13. wirk
    October 4, 2016

    6 GB and 1920×1080 are old boring specs.

    • October 4, 2016

      Go get yourself a Turing Monolith Chaconne then.

  14. careeste
    October 4, 2016

    Im afraid that soon we ll have articles like : Top 5 elephones people are dying to buy or Top 5 phones you dont want to miss , and 3 are elephones ,one umi and one vernee.Someone explain to me how or what people are going crazy for ele s7 or vernee apollo ? I bet they won t even get launched in october.And why is the first picture with the back of elephon c1 ?People are going crazy for that too i guess.The sad thing is people are going crazy for 2 cents to post fake comments and 3 cents for paid articles and disguised advertising.

  15. Adam Irvine
    October 4, 2016

    I must be honest, I really like the Elephone S7 Green colour, would love a phone looking like that, but it certainly wouldn’t have an Elephone logo on it!

    • Muhammad Yasir
      October 4, 2016

      scratch if off ?

    • VMortens
      October 6, 2016

      You don’t like the phone, you like the render!

  16. wirk
    October 4, 2016

    6 GB and 1920×1080 are old boring specs.

    • Taha Zaffar
      October 4, 2016

      Go get yourself a Turing Monolith Chaconne then.

  17. Adam Irvine
    October 4, 2016

    And none of them are sold directly to me in my country (UK)

    OnePlus win once again for me 😉

  18. October 4, 2016

    Judging by GSM Arena’s battery life list, Mediatek processors tend not to be as easy on batteries as comparable Qualcomm based devices. Compare, for example, 3 Xiaomi phones: Redmi 3, Mi Max and Redmi Pro. The first 2 have SD processors while the 3rd one has a Mediatek processor and the lowest battery life rating of the 3. The first two are very near the top of GSM Arena’s battery ratings. Hence, I won’t be buying any phones with Mediatek processors in the near future.

    • princetom
      October 4, 2016

      Wrong assumption. What’s the real life usage like?

      • October 4, 2016

        I had some ‘real life’ experience with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 on Helio X10 and the battery life was absolutely awful, a joke! That’s why I think Xiaomi quickly introduced the Redmi Note 3 with a 4000 mAh battery. Even that wasn’t great with the same processor, which is why I think they quickly came out with the Pro version of this phone with SD 650.

        • princetom
          October 4, 2016

          Wrong again, don’t know if u got a faulty phones though but xiaomi introduced the Snapdragon version bcoz they can’t sell the mediatek version in some country, eg, india

          • October 4, 2016

            The fact remains that Xiaomi phones on SD have better battery life. I forgot to mention the Mi 5, my current phone, SD 820 – fantastic battery life. Also, the Meizu MX5 on Mediatek Helio X10 – poor battery life, just like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 – same processor.

            • October 4, 2016

              There is some truth to this, however the answer is not so simple as those are built in different nodes.
              I really recommend you skip the new line MTK SoC’s except maybe the X20(good battery life and performance).
              Wait for MTKs P20 and X30, those will give QC chips a run for their money in efficiency and performance(built on 16nm).

            • October 4, 2016

              X30, absolutely.
              P-Series hasn’t been the best, perhaps P20 would change my mind.
              Only phones with good reviews using the P10 SoC cost way more than Chinese budget phones, and if you do go around to choose them, it’s a bad decision cause you’re giving up SD 820 devices within that range like Zuk/Le Max 2/Q5/Mi5 etc.

            • October 5, 2016

              P10 is great for multi-tasking and general activities, even battery life is good, but when it comes to gaming it fails very badly, as most heavier 3D games aren’t playable at the highest settings.

            • October 5, 2016

              I feel then P10 came into the market at the wrong time (like a quarter too late) because SD 652 handles both aspects, multitasking and gaming, very well. And there are devices like Cool 1 Dual which give mid-range users best of both worlds for a relatively low price.

            • October 5, 2016

              Yeah, MTK didn’t count on next SD chips being that good(SD430,625,820)

          • October 4, 2016

            Nope, he’s actually somewhat right. You can compare the on-screen time and the heavy app usage as well.
            Snapdragon will win most of the time, maybe X20/X25 in some situations, but highly unlikely.
            Albeit a very poor phone, UMi Super has the best battery in the P10 SoC range of budget phones (excluding Oppo, HTC models), and even then it cannot even come close to SD 820 or even 810 for that matter. Numerous tests there on YouTube.

  19. careeste
    October 4, 2016

    Im afraid that soon we ll have articles like : Top 5 elephones people are dying to buy or Top 5 phones you dont want to miss , and 3 are elephones ,one umi and one vernee.Someone explain to me how or what people are going crazy for ele s7 or vernee apollo ? I bet they won t even get launched in october.And why is the first picture with the back of elephon c1 ?People are going crazy for that too i guess.The sad thing is people are going crazy for 2 cents to post fake comments and 3 cents for paid articles and disguised advertising.

  20. Adam Irvine
    October 4, 2016

    I must be honest, I really like the Elephone S7 Green colour, would love a phone looking like that, but it certainly wouldn’t have an Elephone logo on it!

    • Guest
      October 4, 2016

      scratch if off ?

    • VMortens
      October 6, 2016

      You don’t like the phone, you like the render!

  21. Adam Irvine
    October 4, 2016

    And none of them are sold directly to me in my country (UK)

    OnePlus win once again for me 😉

  22. Moose
    October 4, 2016

    Judging by GSM Arena’s battery life list, Mediatek processors tend not to be as easy on batteries as comparable Qualcomm based devices. Compare, for example, 3 Xiaomi phones: Redmi 3, Mi Max and Redmi Pro. The first 2 have SD processors while the 3rd one has a Mediatek processor and the lowest battery life rating of the 3. The first two are very near the top of GSM Arena’s battery ratings. Hence, I won’t be buying any phones with Mediatek processors in the near future.

    • princetom
      October 4, 2016

      Wrong assumption. What’s the real life usage like?

    • Moose
      October 4, 2016

      I had some ‘real life’ experience with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 on Helio X10 and the battery life was absolutely awful, a joke! That’s why I think Xiaomi quickly introduced the Redmi Note 3 with a 4000 mAh battery. Even that wasn’t great with the same processor, which is why I think they quickly came out with the Pro version of this phone with SD 650.

    • princetom
      October 4, 2016

      Wrong again, don’t know if u got a faulty phones though but xiaomi introduced the Snapdragon version bcoz they can’t sell the mediatek version in some country, eg, india

    • Moose
      October 4, 2016

      The fact remains that Xiaomi phones on SD have better battery life. I forgot to mention the Mi 5, my current phone, SD 820 – fantastic battery life. Also, the Meizu MX5 on Mediatek Helio X10 – poor battery life, just like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2 – same processor.

    • Steven Fox
      October 4, 2016

      There is some truth to this, however the answer is not so simple as those are built in different nodes.
      I really recommend you skip the new line MTK SoC’s except maybe the X20(good battery life and performance).
      Wait for MTKs P20 and X30, those will give QC chips a run for their money in efficiency and performance(built on 16nm).

    • Taha Zaffar
      October 4, 2016

      Nope, he’s actually somewhat right. You can compare the on-screen time and the heavy app usage as well.
      Snapdragon will win most of the time, maybe X20/X25 in some situations, but highly unlikely.
      Albeit a very poor phone, UMi Super has the best battery in the P10 SoC range of budget phones (excluding Oppo, HTC models), and even then it cannot even come close to SD 820 or even 810 for that matter. Numerous tests there on YouTube.

    • Taha Zaffar
      October 4, 2016

      X30, absolutely.
      P-Series hasn’t been the best, perhaps P20 would change my mind.
      Only phones with good reviews using the P10 SoC cost way more than Chinese budget phones, and if you do go around to choose them, it’s a bad decision cause you’re giving up SD 820 devices within that range like Zuk/Le Max 2/Q5/Mi5 etc.

    • Steven Fox
      October 5, 2016

      P10 is great for multi-tasking and general activities, even battery life is good, but when it comes to gaming it fails very badly, as most heavier 3D games aren’t playable at the highest settings.

    • Taha Zaffar
      October 5, 2016

      I feel then P10 came into the market at the wrong time (like a quarter too late) because SD 652 handles both aspects, multitasking and gaming, very well. And there are devices like Cool 1 Dual which give mid-range users best of both worlds for a relatively low price.

    • Steven Fox
      October 5, 2016

      Yeah, MTK didn’t count on next SD chips being that good(SD430,625,820)

  23. October 4, 2016

    If people ARE really going crazy for an Elephone device this October, they can definitely expect to own one… around next October.

    • Muhammad Yasir
      October 4, 2016

      HAAHHA !

      classic

  24. Taha Zaffar
    October 4, 2016

    If people ARE really going crazy for an Elephone device this October, they can definitely expect to own one… around next October.

    • Guest
      October 4, 2016

      HAAHHA !

      classic

  25. Troller :V
    October 5, 2016

    cant wait to see more specs about ele S7

  26. Athur K.
    October 5, 2016

    wow wish to win an elephone S7 5.5″ 4+64GB black hahahah, wish me luck guys

  27. Monster Energy
    October 5, 2016

    elephoneS7 is stunning, wish to win one

  28. Wolvie
    October 5, 2016

    Very sad indeed that Elephoney already own this forum.

    The power of money won finally *sigh*

  29. Carlos.jr
    October 5, 2016

    cant wait to see more specs about ele S7

  30. D.Cakaj
    October 5, 2016

    wow wish to win an elephone S7 5.5″ 4+64GB black hahahah, wish me luck guys

  31. B5 Elite
    October 5, 2016

    elephoneS7 is stunning, wish to win one

  32. Guest
    October 5, 2016

    Very sad indeed that Elephoney already own this forum.

    The power of money won finally *sigh*