Snapdragon 820 could come tomorrow; the ZUK Z2, next year


zuk z1 review

While we at GizChina think that the ZUK Z1 is a tad overpriced, the general consensus from the buyers seems to be in contradiction.

ZUK officials today confirmed the launch of the successor to the ZUK Z1, i.e., the Z2. The device is now confirmed to come out next year, with some software updates for the existing Z1… the launches might even coincide. There was contrasting word on the ZUI Android 6.0 update; while the CEO reckoned it would be out by December end (public beta), ZUK co-founder maintained it;d come only by March. Perhaps a misunderstanding.

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It isn’t a surprise that the Z2 will take a while coming; the Z1 could’ve had better sales if it had a newer processor (that is in no way to suggest that the Snapdragon 801 is a dud), and ZUK seem to be in no mood to have anything but the Snapdragon 820 on the Z2.

Speaking of the Snapdragon 820, the SoC is expected to be debuted as early as tomorrow by the Qualcomm folks. But that doesn’t guarantee availability of mass-produced SoCs for phone makers, which is why the first quarter of 2015 2016 is the earliest you should expect the first Snapdragon 820 phones… nothing before that.

You can read our review of the ZUK Z1 by following this link.

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20 Comments

  1. Rob
    November 10, 2015

    I think you mean the first quarter 2016 not 2015! lol Don’t think we will see any next gen chipset this side of christmas.

    • Chico Migraña
      November 10, 2015

      Yash is living in 2014 with so many SD801 processors he’s talking lately

      • MattD
        November 10, 2015

        You think it’s weird for yash to still live in 2014?!
        By his own description, maxwell is actually still waiting for the launch of oppo find 5!!!
        We’ve got a bunch of backward timetravellers as bloggers… It’s kinda mind-blowing! ò.ó

      • balcobomber25
        November 10, 2015

        2014 was an amazing year for this industry.

    • balcobomber25
      November 10, 2015

      Yea its usually about 2-3 months after they release a chip until we actually see a phone with it. If I was a betting man I would say February will be when the first 820 phones can be purchased

      • Simon
        November 10, 2015

        Bring on the Xiaomi Mi 5 in February then 🙂

        • balcobomber25
          November 10, 2015

          If I had to guess I would say one of two things happens for Mi5.

          1. It’s unveiled end of December/January with a sale date around February 1.

          2. Xiaomi continues to push Redmi Note 2 and Mi4c and we don’t see the Mi5 till much later in the year.

  2. newphoenix
    November 10, 2015

    There is an alternative to this phone and a lot of options for it’s price. Nothing special about Zuk, good to know what is coming next from Zuk. Thanks for excellent news.

    • balcobomber25
      November 10, 2015

      There’s alternatives for every phone but there is something special about this phone, it’s an official CM supported device.

  3. Wondercool
    November 10, 2015

    I would have bought the Z1 if it weren’t for the lack of Band 20 LTE. The CPU doesn’t matter to me, already phone cpus are a bit like desktop cpus: so fast that it doesn’t matter if you have core i5 gen 3 or 6. What’s the point of faster Antutu if in real life the screen refreshes 2 nanoseconds faster?

    So let’s hope it will have band 20 else it is a nono again.

    • balcobomber25
      November 10, 2015

      Wider band support is something all these phones need.

  4. Muhammad Yasir
    November 10, 2015

    820 phones will cost so much 🙁

    • balcobomber25
      November 10, 2015

      They will be about the same as 810 phones this year, 801 last year and 800 before that. Prices stay pretty static for flagship devices. Some will be as low as $300 others will cost well over $600 all depending on brand.

      • Muhammad Yasir
        November 10, 2015

        man … i hope i get a job soon

        but then , can u enjoy an expensive phone u buy with ur hard earned cash ?

        tell me …

        • balcobomber25
          November 10, 2015

          It depends on the phone and person.

          • Muhammad Yasir
            November 10, 2015

            well … u’ve known me long enough :p

            • King
              November 11, 2015

              get a girl mate… you will live on coupons, and when you actually buy a phone, no matter how cheap, you are going to love it. 😀

            • Muhammad Yasir
              November 11, 2015

              i see 😀

  5. Tajwar
    November 10, 2015
  6. balcobomber25
    November 10, 2015

    I liked the choice of 801, still think it’s one of the best SoC’s available. I don’t mind the price either, but what they need to fix is the design. I fall asleep looking at it.