60 Best MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!


Just over a month ago we put together a list of top 30 Chinese phones which come equipped with the new and improved 1.5Ghz MT6589T quad-core processor. Now 5 weeks on that number  has grown! Here are our 60 best MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!

We have updated the original list to include newly launched models from the past 5 weeks, while also adding additional details from the phones which have already gone on sale. We have tried to avoid listing to many phones here that we have only seen in leaked photos or heard of in rumours and only listed phones we are sure will launch soon or are already available. Where possible links to additional information, reviews or videos have been added to the listing.

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The list is quite comprehensive and includes phones from $160 to over $300, and with screen sizes ranging from 4.5-inch to 6.5-inch! With so much variety we’re sure there is a Chinese Android smart phone to suit everyone!

Top 60 MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!

[table id=42 /]

Top 60 MT6589T quad-core Android phones from China!

We will keep this listed updated every month or so, if there are any phones or phablets you can see we have missed then please let us know in the comments section and we’ll do our best to include them next time round.

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.

Previous Top 5 most anticipated Chinese phones: Summer 2013
Next Xiaomi Red Rice launches at just $130, cheapest MT6589T phone

98 Comments

  1. yoav
    July 30, 2013

    5-inch 1920 x 1080 display,4GB RAM, 32GB memory,, 2000mAh battery, 3 mega-pixel front, 13 mega-pixel rear
    Well, i don’t think that the youth have 4GB RAM 😉

  2. July 30, 2013

    Nice one Andi. Pls how can I reach you Andi?

  3. Hellvetta
    July 30, 2013

    FAEA F2 still have no that specs. Official site claim only 1 Gb, ram 4 Gb rom and accu 2300 mah only… Or you know something “insider” info, Andy? 🙂

    • July 30, 2013

      I have been hearing about this phone for a month now. I logged in and asked FAEA about it three weeks ago and they still have responded to my question. So I think it is BS until you actually see it for sale! On that list there are 29 phones that are SOON/TBA/PREORDER/ANY-DAY-NOW…..WHATEVER! I think were all tired of waiting for all these great phones to make it to the market!!!!!

    • August 6, 2013

      Right now, FAEA F2 have MTK6589T 1Gb 16Gb with NFC, Price will at 1149RMB.

  4. Demetrio
    July 30, 2013

    Enhanced version of FAEA F2 has been already announced, together with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM, and probably a powerful battery.
    But, Andy, what about your F2 test? I’m still waiting for it 😉

    • Hellvetta
      July 30, 2013

      Dimetrio, as you can see on their (FAEA) official forum, they just make a topic “Does Faea F2 Phone Really Need 2GB RAM?” with no any anounces. It seems they are only planning to make all these changes… But your answer there was fully justified 😉

    • July 30, 2013

      “Announced” and “actually for sale” are two different things. Everybody likes fantasy but then you get reality. Half the phones on this aren’t available, and probable won’t be a month from now! +1 on that Question to Andy. Whens that test going to make it to the net?

  5. Paarkhi
    July 30, 2013

    I think it would be nice to have a list of released and ready to be purchased phones instead of just announced phones

    • July 30, 2013

      Amen to that brother! Too much hype, and then its just show me the beef(or phones, in this case)? Half the phones on this list ARE NOT available to buy! Whats wrong with this picture…..

  6. BigboyPL
    July 30, 2013

    iOcean X7 Youth Turbo 4GB RAM for 1099 yuans ? Thats awesome 😀

  7. Dino
    July 30, 2013

    U Mentioned all ??i think
    u Missed Out “BBC LION”

  8. geo
    July 30, 2013

    WRONG SPECS ON FAEA F2
    http://www.faeamobile.com/faea-f2-techspec

    1/4 RAM
    23OO BATTERY

  9. Simon
    July 30, 2013

    Nice table, thanks for that 🙂

  10. LinuxMint
    July 30, 2013

    Unfortunately this all bears little relevance for the North American market, unless the Chinese phone manufacturers start using more sophisticated, at least 5-band, UMTS aka W-CDMA plus HSPA+ capable radio chipsets and I am not even getting started on LTE.
    Unless these 3G operating frequencies (850/900/1700+2100/1900/2100) (are included as well, all that fanfare is for nothing, since those shiny new smart phones remain not much more than pimped-up basic GSM devices on this side of the globe 🙁

    • Patrick
      July 30, 2013

      The same applies to Europe. Approximately 98% of all Chinese phones are just shiny 2G phones with spotty 3G connection.

      • July 30, 2013

        Most if not all Chinese phones have the 3g 2100mhz band, which is the only one Europe uses. So, I’m not sure why you feel that way.

        • Ily
          August 1, 2013

          So what exactly do I need to look for if I buy a phone to use in USA. What network? I don’t understand, please explain.

          • August 1, 2013

            Use this website to see which band(s) your carrier uses http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/

            Then, check if the phone you’re looking at has the correct bands.

            • LinuxMint
              August 2, 2013

              GSM with its four globally used bands (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) is already supported by all Chinese phones/phablets, but that is not good enough, if you want to do more than just making phone calls and having poor EDGE data rates.
              You need to look for for 5-band UMTS/WCDMA/HSPA+ support instead.

          • LinuxMint
            August 2, 2013

            The 2100 MHz band 1, used all over the world BUT North and wide parts of Latin America, is of very little use in N.A., if you don’t want to be stuck with poor EDGE data rates.
            T-mobile and AT&T mostly use a special case for HDSPA+42 and LTE, called AWS band, where the uplink happens in the 1700MHz band and your downlink data comes to you in the 2100MHz band. Therefore in order to work, BOTH bands need to be available on your device and operate together.
            Alternatively in many regions here the 1900MHz band can be used as some kind of UMTS fallback with both carriers, but only with (much) lower data-rates.
            Bottom line, to be useful in N.A. your 3G UMTS aka WCDMA device MUST support the 1700+2100MHz band4/AWS AND the 1900MHz band2/PCS to get good data rates, which at the moment, basically none but the some $500+ Chinese flagship devices do and then they usually depend on Qualcomm SoCs and radios or comparable like all the other international (and therefore expensive) big brand flagship devices. At least then you also get multi-band LTE support with it.
            It takes at least one, maybe 2 more SoC and radio chip generations from Mediatek and such to find their way into cheap China phones/tablets, before they catch up with the current 5-band (850, 900, 1700+2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) state of the art UMTS/WCDMA hardware, the international “big boys” are using since quite some time and then, the whole mess, only much worse, starts all over again, once you also want to use LTE. Then you need radios that support 24+ bands to operate on a world wide level. Welcome to the zing world of organized chaos.
            The FTC/US screwed it up for consumers and manufacturers, by insisting on doing stuff differently from the rest of the world, once again, just like they did with the transition to digital TV, using ATSC, which not many else globally care for, rather than DVB-T/-C.

            For more details on mobile see:
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS-FDD
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_frequencies#Carrier_Frequency_Use

            • mesnerf
              November 11, 2013

              same screwed up things in canada. also need 1700/2100 for some providers. mt6167 is the rf chip for the mt6589

  11. akash
    July 30, 2013

    andi please insert a sort by option for every column…would make this awesome list much more useful..

  12. July 30, 2013

    Where can I buy the Neo N003 Youth? its sold out in lightake I want a legit website .

  13. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    5-inch 1920 x 1080 display,4GB RAM, 32GB memory,, 2000mAh battery, 3 mega-pixel front, 13 mega-pixel rear
    Well, i don’t think that the youth have 4GB RAM 😉

  14. July 30, 2013

    Great list. How about posting top 60 Chinese smartphone powered by Rock chip?

  15. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    Nice one Andi. Pls how can I reach you Andi?

  16. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    FAEA F2 still have no that specs. Official site claim only 1 Gb, ram 4 Gb rom and accu 2300 mah only… Or you know something “insider” info, Andy? 🙂

    • Guest
      July 30, 2013

      I have been hearing about this phone for a month now. I logged in and asked FAEA about it three weeks ago and they still have responded to my question. So I think it is BS until you actually see it for sale! On that list there are 29 phones that are SOON/TBA/PREORDER/ANY-DAY-NOW…..WHATEVER! I think were all tired of waiting for all these great phones to make it to the market!!!!!

    • Guest
      August 6, 2013

      Right now, FAEA F2 have MTK6589T 1Gb 16Gb with NFC, Price will at 1149RMB.

  17. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    Enhanced version of FAEA F2 has been already announced, together with 2 GB RAM and 32 GB ROM, and probably a powerful battery.
    But, Andy, what about your F2 test? I’m still waiting for it 😉

    • Guest
      July 30, 2013

      Dimetrio, as you can see on their (FAEA) official forum, they just make a topic “Does Faea F2 Phone Really Need 2GB RAM?” with no any anounces. It seems they are only planning to make all these changes… But your answer there was fully justified 😉

    • Guest
      July 30, 2013

      http://forum.faeamobile.com/forum.php?mod=redirect&goto=findpost&ptid=55&pid=594&fromuid=14
      That poll you mentioned, I think, was created just to see if making an extra effort to build “elite” version would be useful to sell much more units. Maybe MTK problems managing more than 1GB RAM are not fully solved.

    • Guest
      July 30, 2013

      “Announced” and “actually for sale” are two different things. Everybody likes fantasy but then you get reality. Half the phones on this aren’t available, and probable won’t be a month from now! +1 on that Question to Andy. Whens that test going to make it to the net?

  18. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    I think it would be nice to have a list of released and ready to be purchased phones instead of just announced phones

    • Guest
      July 30, 2013

      Amen to that brother! Too much hype, and then its just show me the beef(or phones, in this case)? Half the phones on this list ARE NOT available to buy! Whats wrong with this picture…..

  19. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    iOcean X7 Youth Turbo 4GB RAM for 1099 yuans ? Thats awesome 😀

  20. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    U Mentioned all ??i think
    u Missed Out “BBC LION”

  21. GS88
    July 30, 2013

    WHY isn’t there a phone (yet) with the MT6589T AND a 4.0″ / 4.3″ screen?! Why must all these phones be so big?! Not everyone wants a big 5.0″ phone…

    • July 30, 2013

      I have started considering 5″ a small phone… I can’t wait to see a real 7″ no bezel phone to purchase… but there are others like you that are still waiting for a 4″ hefty phone… I guess we’ll both wait… 🙁

      • Louisclub
        July 30, 2013

        i’m also waiting for a no bezel phone.. be it 4.5 or 5.5 inches. but it seems it only exist in conceptual idea.

  22. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    WRONG SPECS ON FAEA F2
    http://www.faeamobile.com/faea-f2-techspec

    1/4 RAM
    23OO BATTERY

  23. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    Nice table, thanks for that 🙂

  24. July 30, 2013

    I would suggest separating the list into two, one with the “small” 4.5 to 5″ and another one for “large” 6 to 6.5″…

  25. Samuel
    July 30, 2013

    Hey everyone.. Check this out…. Zopo’s latest 6inch 1080p fhd phone with corning gorilla glass screen
    mtksj.com/html/MTKshoujizixun/4404.html

  26. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    Unfortunately this all bears little relevance for the North American market, unless the Chinese phone manufacturers start using more sophisticated, at least 5-band, UMTS aka W-CDMA plus HSPA+ capable radio chipsets and I am not even getting started on LTE.
    Unless these 3G operating frequencies (850/900/1700+2100/1900/2100) (are included as well, all that fanfare is for nothing, since those shiny new smart phones remain not much more than pimped-up basic GSM devices on this side of the globe 🙁

    • Guest
      July 30, 2013

      The same applies to Europe. Approximately 98% of all Chinese phones are just shiny 2G phones with spotty 3G connection.

    • Guest
      July 31, 2013

      Most if not all Chinese phones have the 3g 2100mhz band, which is the only one Europe uses. So, I’m not sure why you feel that way.

    • Guest
      August 1, 2013

      So what exactly do I need to look for if I buy a phone to use in USA. What network? I don’t understand, please explain.

    • Guest
      August 2, 2013

      Use this website to see which band(s) your carrier uses http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/

      Then, check if the phone you’re looking at has the correct bands.

    • Guest
      August 2, 2013

      The 2100 MHz band 1, used all over the world BUT North and wide parts of Latin America, is of very little use in N.A., if you don’t want to be stuck with poor EDGE data rates.
      T-mobile and AT&T mostly use a special case for HDSPA+42 and LTE, called AWS band, where the uplink happens in the 1700MHz band and your downlink data comes to you in the 2100MHz band. Therefore in order to work, BOTH bands need to be available on your device and operate together.
      Alternatively in many regions here the 1900MHz band can be used as some kind of UMTS fallback with both carriers, but only with (much) lower data-rates.
      Bottom line, to be useful in N.A. your 3G UMTS aka WCDMA device MUST support the 1700+2100MHz band4/AWS AND the 1900MHz band2/PCS to get good data rates, which at the moment, basically none but the some $500+ Chinese flagship devices do and then they usually depend on Qualcomm SoCs and radios or comparable like all the other international (and therefore expensive) big brand flagship devices. At least then you also get multi-band LTE support with it.
      It takes at least one, maybe 2 more SoC and radio chip generations from Mediatek and such to find their way into cheap China phones/tablets, before they catch up with the current 5-band (850, 900, 1700+2100, 1900, 2100 MHz) state of the art UMTS/WCDMA hardware, the international “big boys” are using since quite some time and then, the whole mess, only much worse, starts all over again, once you also want to use LTE. Then you need radios that support 24+ bands to operate on a world wide level. Welcome to the zing world of organized chaos.
      The FTC/US screwed it up for consumers and manufacturers, by insisting on doing stuff differently from the rest of the world, once again, just like they did with the transition to digital TV, using ATSC, which not many else globally care for, rather than DVB-T/-C.

      For more details on mobile see:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS-FDD
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_frequencies#Carrier_Frequency_Use

    • Guest
      August 2, 2013

      GSM with its four globally used bands (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) is already supported by all Chinese phones/phablets, but that is not good enough, if you want to do more than just making phone calls and having poor EDGE data rates.
      You need to look for for 5-band UMTS/WCDMA/HSPA+ support instead.

    • Guest
      November 11, 2013

      same screwed up things in canada. also need 1700/2100 for some providers. mt6167 is the rf chip for the mt6589

  27. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    andi please insert a sort by option for every column…would make this awesome list much more useful..

  28. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    Where can I buy the Neo N003 Youth? its sold out in lightake I want a legit website .

  29. July 30, 2013

    Does the jiayu g4 mtk6589t thin battery version also have otg or just advance?

    Thks

  30. Ed
    July 30, 2013

    Since when is the cubot gt99 with mt6589T?

  31. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    Great list. How about posting top 60 Chinese smartphone powered by Rock chip?

  32. Adrian
    July 30, 2013

    Some WCDMA 850&1900 Mhz?
    Thanks!

    • LinuxMint
      July 31, 2013

      That’s NOT cutting it!
      Gotta have the 1700(up)+2100(down)MHz AWS band as well, if you don’t want to lose out on HDSPA+42, else you end up with only EDGE or, if you are REALLY lucky, HDSPA+21.

  33. Guest
    July 30, 2013

    WHY isn’t there a phone (yet) with the MT6589T AND a 4.0″ / 4.3″ screen?! Why must all these phones be so big?! Not everyone wants a big 5.0″ phone…

    • Guest
      July 31, 2013

      I have started considering 5″ a small phone… I can’t wait to see a real 7″ no bezel phone to purchase… but there are others like you that are still waiting for a 4″ hefty phone… I guess we’ll both wait… 🙁

    • Guest
      July 31, 2013

      i’m also waiting for a no bezel phone.. be it 4.5 or 5.5 inches. but it seems it only exist in conceptual idea.

  34. Guest
    July 31, 2013

    I would suggest separating the list into two, one with the “small” 4.5 to 5″ and another one for “large” 6 to 6.5″…

  35. Guest
    July 31, 2013

    Hey everyone.. Check this out…. Zopo’s latest 6inch 1080p fhd phone with corning gorilla glass screen
    mtksj.com/html/MTKshoujizixun/4404.html

  36. Angus
    July 31, 2013

    Star S5 (Butterfly) 5.0″ IPS HD Screen (1280*720) Android 4.2 Smart Phone with MTK6589T Quad Core 1GB RAM 8GB ROM 12MP Camera. US$179 on Alixpress

  37. Guest
    July 31, 2013

    Does the jiayu g4 mtk6589t thin battery version also have otg or just advance?

    Thks

  38. Guest
    July 31, 2013

    Since when is the cubot gt99 with mt6589T?

  39. Guest
    July 31, 2013

    Some WCDMA 850&1900 Mhz?
    Thanks!

    • Guest
      July 31, 2013

      That’s NOT cutting it!
      Gotta have the 1700(up)+2100(down)MHz AWS band as well, if you don’t want to lose out on HDSPA+42, else you end up with only EDGE or, if you are REALLY lucky, HDSPA+21.

  40. Guest
    July 31, 2013

    Star S5 (Butterfly) 5.0″ IPS HD Screen (1280*720) Android 4.2 Smart Phone with MTK6589T Quad Core 1GB RAM 8GB ROM 12MP Camera. US$179 on Alixpress

  41. iMat2.9
    July 31, 2013

    Please include for all phones a list of whether OTG, MHL, NFC, etc are supported, your table does nothing to show which are the “BEST”.
    This will help most people decide which will suit them. I for one don’t want to individually search out 60 phones to check.

    • LinuxMint
      August 2, 2013

      … and even more important, the supported UMTS/WCDMA radio frequencies. For those devices to work as well in North and wide parts of Latin America as they do globally, they NEED to support 850, 900, 1700+2100, 1900, 2100 MHz.
      And then for LTE the whole mess starts all over again, only much, much worse.

  42. Guest
    August 1, 2013

    Please include for all phones a list of whether OTG, MHL, NFC, etc are supported, your table does nothing to show which are the “BEST”.
    This will help most people decide which will suit them. I for one don’t want to individually search out 60 phones to check.

    • Guest
      August 2, 2013

      … and even more important, the supported UMTS/WCDMA radio frequencies. For those devices to work as well in North and wide parts of Latin America as they do globally, they NEED to support 850, 900, 1700+2100, 1900, 2100 MHz.
      And then for LTE the whole mess starts all over again, only much, much worse.

  43. August 2, 2013

    For newbies such as myself, it is easy to get lost in the sea of Chinese phone manufacturers, phones and dealers. This comprehensive list of MT6589T is very welcome.
    Would it be possible to make a list of Five MT6589T Best Buys based on your vast knowledge and experience?!
    Thanks 🙂

  44. Guest
    August 2, 2013

    For newbies such as myself, it is easy to get lost in the sea of Chinese phone manufacturers, phones and dealers. This comprehensive list of MT6589T is very welcome.
    Would it be possible to make a list of Five MT6589T Best Buys based on your vast knowledge and experience?!
    Thanks 🙂

  45. August 4, 2013

    This table you can’t appear to sort by the rankings for each field like you could with the last one you posted, could update it? Thanks! It was very very useful.

  46. August 4, 2013

    Does anyone have experience with the brand Pulid? Saw a Pulid F13 MTK6589T, 1080p, 2GB RAM, 32GB, 2500mAh for US$297 on Antelife and it sparked my interest. Would really appreciate your opinion.

    Cheers,

    Pat

  47. Guest
    August 4, 2013

    This table you can’t appear to sort by the rankings for each field like you could with the last one you posted, could update it? Thanks! It was very very useful.

  48. Jerome
    August 4, 2013

    All this smartphones are great but in Europe we need 900 and 2100 MHz for the 3G, not 850 MHz. Don’t forget the 900 MHz in your products ! ZTE and HUAWEI have 900 and 2100 MHz…

    When chinas smartphones will be upgrated with the 4G ? It’s starting here in Europe.

  49. Guest
    August 4, 2013

    Does anyone have experience with the brand Pulid? Saw a Pulid F13 MTK6589T, 1080p, 2GB RAM, 32GB, 2500mAh for US$297 on Antelife and it sparked my interest. Would really appreciate your opinion.

    Cheers,

    Pat

  50. Guest
    August 5, 2013

    All this smartphones are great but in Europe we need 900 and 2100 MHz for the 3G, not 850 MHz. Don’t forget the 900 MHz in your products ! ZTE and HUAWEI have 900 and 2100 MHz…

    When chinas smartphones will be upgrated with the 4G ? It’s starting here in Europe.

  51. Beo
    August 7, 2013

    Bad Link in Ui X2 turbo review —> Zopo C2 Platinum 🙂

  52. Guest
    August 7, 2013

    Bad Link in Ui X2 turbo review —> Zopo C2 Platinum 🙂

  53. Jenni
    September 3, 2013

    FAKE 6589T

    Andy

    Be wise not to mention phones you didn’t TESTED.
    I open a case (Paypal) that for example, the N01. S6 is a fake 6589T.
    I also noticed today that they remove the line saying it’s a 1,5Ghz and now 1,2Ghz
    But i have screendump as proof.

    It’s frustrated that sellers are fooling consumers with fake specs.

    • Jenni
      September 3, 2013

      The seller is Chinapadmall

    • September 3, 2013

      Pretty sure there is a MT6589T version, in fact GizChina.es are testing one with the Turbo processor

      • Jenni
        September 5, 2013

        I hope so
        But not the fake 6589T chinapadd is selling (sold to me)

        Ypu paid for a 1.5ghz and received a 1,2Ghz CAUSE there is no T version of N0.1 S6 YET .

  54. Guest
    September 3, 2013

    FAKE 6589T

    Andy

    Be wise not to mention phones you didn’t TESTED.
    I open a case (Paypal) that for example, the N01. S6 is a fake 6589T.
    I also noticed today that they remove the line saying it’s a 1,5Ghz and now 1,2Ghz
    But i have screendump as proof.

    It’s frustrated that sellers are fooling consumers with fake specs.

    • Guest
      September 3, 2013

      The seller is Chinapadmall

    • Guest
      September 3, 2013

      Pretty sure there is a MT6589T version, in fact GizChina.es are testing one with the Turbo processor

    • Guest
      September 5, 2013

      I hope so
      But not the fake 6589T chinapadd is selling (sold to me)

      Ypu paid for a 1.5ghz and received a 1,2Ghz CAUSE there is no T version of N0.1 S6 YET .

  55. October 7, 2013

    the link under UMI x2 moves to zopo C2 instead of Umi review

  56. Guest
    October 7, 2013

    the link under UMI x2 moves to zopo C2 instead of Umi review

  57. Salman Mahmood
    October 10, 2013

    Can you guys please confirm which mt6589 processors do huawei G700 and lenovo s820 have respectively? which of these might be better ? I just want a budget phone for high end gaming such as dark knight rises and gta vice city.

  58. Guest
    October 10, 2013

    Can you guys please confirm which mt6589 processors do huawei G700 and lenovo s820 have respectively? which of these might be better ? I just want a budget phone for high end gaming such as dark knight rises and gta vice city.