10 rebranded Chinese phones you didn’t know about!


Although a lot of Chinese companies have been pushing independently developed phones in the recent past, a lot of small and big-time manufacturers in China still do the ODM business. They accept orders in (massive) bulk from another, often international, manufacturer, which allows the latter to sell devices with its own brand name.

There are a lot of vendors such as those. Blu, Wiko, Micromax, and the list goes on and on. Although this isn’t what buyers of such devices would like to accept, but often there’s more less harm and more good than you think. It saves the vendor a tonne of money that it would otherwise have to spend on R&D among other things, therefore making the device more affordable to you, the end consumer.

Here are 10 Chinese phones that exist in other markets with different names!

Gionee Elife S5.5 – Blu Vivo IV, Himax Pure S

Gionee-Elife-S5.53

GizChina readers would most probably be very aware of the Elife S5.5. The phone was once (not too long ago) known as the thinnest Android smartphone, and with a capable octa-core processor, the Elife S5.5 is no mug with processing prowess as well. A killer design, powerful internals and an extremely solid build are a trademark of the Gionee Elife S5.5. To top it off, the Elife S5.5 also comes with a 5-inch full HD display and a healthy 2GB of RAM!

The device exists in multiple markets albeit not with its original name. It seel in the USA with the Blu Vivo IV moniker, and is known as the  Himax Pure S in Indonesia.

Coolpad F1 – Micromax Canvas Nitro, Himax Polymer

Coolpad-F1

The Coolpad F1 has been a sought after device since the time of its launch. Buyers have taken to resellers to get the device, and even with the added costs the Coolpad F1 turns out to be a solid choice. It comes with a 5-inch display with a 720p resolution, but the star of the show is the 1.7GHz octa-core processor it hides beneath the display. There’s also 2GB of RAM to keep the show going, and usually a price tag that hovers around the $200 mark in various markets.

The Coolpad F1 is sold as the Micromax Canvas Nitro in India, and as the Himax Polymer in Indonesia. Note that both these markets are where Xiaomi is looking to introduce the Redmi Note next!

Gionee Elife E7 – Allview X1 Xtreme, Blu Life Pure XL, Walton Primo ZX

gionee-elife-e7_main

Gionee’s going to be a regular feature in this article, or so it appears by far. The Chinese manufacturer had for long been in the ODM/OEM business before stepping out to market its own devices.

The Elife E7 happens to be a very famous phone from the company. It comes with a 5.5-inch full HD display, a Snapdragon 800 processor and some impressive camera tech, including a 16 mega-pixel rear camera. It’s almost been a year since its launch, but the device remains to be a popular one thanks to the aforementioned key specs.

It sells in the US as the Blu Life Pure XL, in Europe as the Allview X1 Xtreme and as the Walton Primo ZX in Bangladesh.

Doogee Turbo DG2014 – Oplus XonPhone 5

doogee turbo dg2014

 

The Oplus XonPhone 5 is fresh in our minds since it has been only less than a couple of weeks since we reviewed the phone here. It’s a steadily built phone, with a decent price tag and an average processor. However, it turns out the Oplus XonPhone 5 is a 1:1 replica of the Doogee Turbo which is a popular budget phone from China.

It comes with a 5-inch 720p screen, the ever so popular MediaTek MT6582 processor and 1GB of RAM. Oplus sells it for 7,999 INR in India which is an equivalent of about $130, and surprisingly, a lot of Chinese resellers offer the Chinese version aka the Doogee Turbo DG2014 for about the same price (even more, sometimes).

Read more about the Oplus XonPhone 5 on the official site.

T908 – Mito Fantasy Selfie A77

985653936_394

There are a lot of Chinese phones that although are quite popular, often don’t have a company name before the model number. The T908 is one such phone. It’s again a clone of the OPPO N1/OPPO N1 Mini like the iNew V8, but it comes with a much smaller — 4.5-inch — screen. It also comes with a dual-core 1.3GHz processor, 512MB/1GB of RAM and support for 3G networks.

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A lot of these phones are meant for OEM business, but many end up in the hands of resellers which are able to provide these devices at extremely low cost, which therefore makes them extremely popular.

The T908 is sold in Indonesia as the Mito Selfie A77.

Elephone P2000 – iberry Auxus Note

elephone-p2000-black

 

Either Elephone, or a lower-level OEM is been doing a lot of good business. Given that Elephone is a relatively new name on the scene, it should be the latter. But that’s not what’s important here anyway.

The P2000 interestingly comes with a fingerprint scanner, which does work pretty well. The P2000 is among the most affordable phones with that feature, and it also comes with some other interesting specs including a 5.5-inch HD screen, NFC and a massive 2650mAh battery.

It sells as the iberry Auxus Note in India, but we’re pretty certain this one has a lot of other names in a lot of other countries!

Gionee Elife E6 – Blu Life Pure, Walton Primo X2, Allview X1 Soul

Gionee-Elife-E6

We still think that the Gionee Elife E6 is among the best looking smartphones in the market right now. For a device that’s been in the market for a year, that’s no mean feat!

The Elife E6 came when MediaTek was really stepping into the performance market. The Elife E6 runs the 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6589T chipset, a variation of which was also found on the Xiaomi Hongmi. Along with that, the phone comes with 2GB of RAM and a 5-inch full HD display.

The US junta gets the Elife E6 goodness in the form of the Blu Life Pure, while those in Europe and Bangladesh call it Allview X1 Soul and Walton Primo X2.

JiaYu S2 – Vayoki S52

jiayu s2 review

Although JiaYu isn’t the most established manufacturer in China, the company has been able to gain a lot of headway into the international market (through resellers, mostly) due to a build quality that other makers find hard to beat. The JiaYu S2 that was launched this year is another solid phone from the company, which comes with a lot of tech packed in a very slender body.

We also reviewed the S2 back in March, and found the phone to be an extremely sleek device that does justice to tech heads and fashionistas alike. Another upcoming manufacturer, Vayoki seems to have liked the phone as much as we did, and has launched it as the Vayoki S52. According to reports, Vayoki is looking to promote the device in India.

Wiko Highway/Micromax Canvas Knight/MyPhone Infinity

wiko-highway-1

All of the above mentioned phones are actually made by Tinno, or so we believe. Wiko sells it as the Wiko Highway, Micromax calls it the Canvas Knight and MyPhone brand it as the Infinity.

Wiko is a relatively new vendor, with its roots in France. The company has, however, started operations in multiple countries in Europe. Micromax, as you’d probably know by now, is India’s #1 smartphone vendor while MyPhone is an up and coming maker from the Philippines.

Coming to the phone, believed to be made by Tinno, it comes with a 5-inch full HD display, a 2GHz octa-core processor and 2GB of RAM. It also comes in gold, and looks a bit like the iPhone… so that doesn’t do any harm.

Zopo ZP980 – Lemon Aspire A4 HD

Zopo ZP980 Ultimate hands on

The Zopo ZP980 was an incredibly popular phone during the time of its launch and you should be surprised if you haven’t heard about it before. It was Zopo’s first ever full HD phone, and it also came with an inspiring design, and later, with a 2GB RAM option (and a few other version as well, including a Turbo).

Folks at India’s Lemon liked it so much that they decided to call it their own with a ‘Lemon Aspire A4 HD’ model name!

Tell us what you think!

That was for a fraction of the rebranded phones that are doing the rounds. We bet on a tonne more that exist, and the fact that our readers would be aware of many more! If you know about any device that sells in your country and is a rebrand of another Chinese phone, be sure you let us know in the comments!

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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76 Comments

  1. President Putin
    September 11, 2014

    Thanks for the article! This article will be helpful to those who want to find firmware info and tweaks for their models.

    • September 11, 2014

      Cheers

    • Nicholas Polydor
      September 12, 2014

      It’s also interesting to see that some of the rebranded versions come with vanilla Android.

      • balcobomber25
        September 14, 2014

        I bought a Blu Life Play which was a rebranded Gionee a few years back it was almost stock Android. The only thing they changed was the look of the menus.

  2. surendra
    September 11, 2014

    hello i am a user of celkon 118 phone. i am from india. i would like to know is this a chainees phone with another name. here is the official link of the celkon phone

    https://www.celkonmobiles.com/?_a=allproducts&pid=122&sid=1

    thnaks in advance

  3. Guest
    September 11, 2014

    Thanks for the article! This article will be helpful to those who want to find firmware info and tweaks for their models.

    • Yash Garg
      September 11, 2014

      Cheers

    • Nicholas Polydor
      September 12, 2014

      It’s also interesting to see that some of the rebranded versions come with vanilla Android.

    • balcobomber25
      September 14, 2014

      I bought a Blu Life Play which was a rebranded Gionee a few years back it was almost stock Android. The only thing they changed was the look of the menus.

  4. surendra
    September 11, 2014

    hello i am a user of celkon 118 phone. i am from india. i would like to know is this a chainees phone with another name. here is the official link of the celkon phone

    https://www.celkonmobiles.com/?_a=allproducts&pid=122&sid=1

    thnaks in advance

  5. Roni Adam
    September 11, 2014

    maybe GiONEE Elife E6 in indonesia rebranded as Polytron Prime 5

    check this link
    http://polytron.co.id/?fuseaction=home.productsdetail&csection=product_Smartphone&id=1772

    • September 11, 2014

      Great find! Looks a lot like the E6, maybe bit slight changes.

  6. Zami
    September 11, 2014

    Gionee Elife S5.5 is also known as Walton Z3 blade in Bangladesh .

    • afafaf
      November 26, 2014

      x3

  7. OZ
    September 11, 2014

    I thought some of Doogee phones are copy of Inew (especially V3 ) or the other way round?

    • September 11, 2014

      Really can’t say, they most probably have a common OEM.

  8. Guest
    September 11, 2014

    maybe GiONEE Elife E6 in indonesia rebranded as Polytron Prime 5

    check this link
    http://polytron.co.id/?fuseaction=home.productsdetail&csection=product_Smartphone&id=1772

    • Yash Garg
      September 11, 2014

      Great find! Looks a lot like the E6, maybe bit slight changes.

  9. Guest
    September 11, 2014

    Gionee Elife S5.5 is also known as Walton Z3 blade in Bangladesh .

    • Guest
      November 26, 2014

      x3

  10. Guest
    September 11, 2014

    I thought some of Doogee phones are copy of Inew (especially V3 ) or the other way round?

    • Yash Garg
      September 11, 2014

      Really can’t say, they most probably have a common OEM.

  11. trolleyfan
    September 11, 2014

    Nibiru Mars One H1 = Highscreen Thor (Russia) = Blu Life 8 (US)

  12. Aeonia
    September 11, 2014

    I can’t believe someone didn’t mention the Cubot GT99=Cherry Mobile Apollo=(Sege)XYZ X1=MySaga X1..all same phone

    • trolleyfan
      September 12, 2014

      There are hundreds of such examples, no way to mention them all.. some more that came to my mind:

      UMI X2, VOTO X2, iconBIT MERCURY QUAD FHD (Russia), DNS S5002 (Russia), Smart Namo Saffron 1 (India)

      Umi X1 Pro, Doogee DG350, Freelander I50, Turbo X5 Star

      Inew V3, Turbo X5 Z

      Doogee Collo 2 DG120, Citric C5

      Mlais Note Pro, Elephone P2000

      Hero H801+, Tianhe One H801+, Star H801+, Mlais MX59, Orientphone One Max

  13. marsian0
    September 11, 2014

    Ulefone u7, Start u69, Lutfco A-One X, Tronsmart PS7, Mlais m81, Carpad t69, Orientphone Mega Pro 7, Created N7, Yuandao M87,…

  14. Aeonia
    September 11, 2014

    Also Tronsmart TS7 =Cubot One

  15. usman
    September 11, 2014

    gionee elife s5.5 is also known as Qmobile Z5 in Pakistan….:p

    • Zeeshan Nathani
      September 11, 2014

      The Qmobile Z5 loooks like Gionee Elife E7 & not S5.5

  16. trolleyfan
    September 11, 2014

    Nibiru Mars One H1 = Highscreen Thor (Russia) = Blu Life 8 (US)

  17. Guest
    September 11, 2014

    I can’t believe someone didn’t mention the Cubot GT99=Cherry Mobile Apollo=(Sege)XYZ X1=MySaga X1..all same phone

    • trolleyfan
      September 12, 2014

      There are hundreds of such examples, no way to mention them all.. some more that came to my mind:

      UMI X2, VOTO X2, iconBIT MERCURY QUAD FHD (Russia), DNS S5002 (Russia), Smart Namo Saffron 1 (India)

      Umi X1 Pro, Doogee DG350, Freelander I50, Turbo X5 Star

      Inew V3, Turbo X5 Z

      Doogee Collo 2 DG120, Citric C5

      Mlais Note Pro, Elephone P2000

      Hero H801+, Tianhe One H801+, Star H801+, Mlais MX59, Orientphone One Max

  18. Guest
    September 11, 2014

    Ulefone u7, Start u69, Lutfco A-One X, Tronsmart PS7, Mlais m81, Carpad t69, Orientphone Mega Pro 7, Created N7, Yuandao M87,…

  19. Guest
    September 11, 2014

    Also Tronsmart TS7 =Cubot One

  20. Guest
    September 11, 2014

    gionee elife s5.5 is also known as Qmobile Z5 in Pakistan….:p

    • Zeeshan Nathani
      September 12, 2014

      The Qmobile Z5 loooks like Gionee Elife E7 & not S5.5

  21. trolleyfan
    September 12, 2014

    Unistar U5 Wind is probably a twin of Doogee Turbo, however they have slightly different specs, and back cover colors

  22. trolleyfan
    September 12, 2014

    Unistar U5 Wind is probably a twin of Doogee Turbo, however they have slightly different specs, and back cover colors

  23. koss_x_treeme
    September 13, 2014

    Gionee Elife S 5.5 is also rebranded as Allview x2 soul

  24. koss_x_treeme
    September 13, 2014

    Gionee Elife S 5.5 is also rebranded as Allview x2 soul

  25. jefke
    September 13, 2014

    and what about the elephone water P9 = vifocal w-92

    • September 25, 2014

      Both seem to be rebrands of an existing phone

  26. Guest
    September 13, 2014

    and what about the elephone water P9 = vifocal w-92

    • Yash Garg
      September 25, 2014

      Both seem to be rebrands of an existing phone

  27. FF699
    September 14, 2014

    “MyPhone is an up and coming maker from the Philippines” – MyPhone is founded in 2007 but only started to offer Android phones a few years ago…

    Some no-name local android smartphone/tablet brands release some Chinese phones with their own respective brands…

    Note that several of the rebranded phones listed here have some differences from the original.

    Is it possible that certain manufacturers outsource their Android devices to local distributors under different names?

    • SSS
      October 7, 2014

      This is possible,and they can do it if you want put your name on device he will do it with minimum order.But the process will be longer than their brand

  28. Guest
    September 14, 2014

    “MyPhone is an up and coming maker from the Philippines” – MyPhone is founded in 2007 but only started to offer Android phones a few years ago…

    Some no-name local android smartphone/tablet brands release some Chinese phones with their own respective brands…

    Note that several of the rebranded phones listed here have some differences from the original.

    Is it possible that certain manufacturers outsource their Android devices to local distributors under different names?

    • Guest
      October 7, 2014

      This is possible,and they can do it if you want put your name on device he will do it with minimum order.But the process will be longer than their brand

  29. OhYeah
    September 15, 2014

    gionee dream d1

  30. Guest
    September 15, 2014

    gionee dream d1

  31. Amit
    September 17, 2014

    Karbonn titaniums S1 Plus is a rebranded phicomm c230w

  32. Amit
    September 17, 2014

    Karbonn titaniums S1 Plus is a rebranded phicomm c230w

  33. Don Corle
    September 18, 2014

    Hello, i’m user of Polytron w7451 in Indonesia, anyone knows the origin brand in China? Because my phone got bricked, & i can’t entering recovery mode, is there any alternative way, like entering download mode, may be? For anybody who can informs me, i say thanks a lot

  34. Don Corle
    September 18, 2014

    Hello, i’m user of Polytron w7451 in Indonesia, anyone knows the origin brand in China? Because my phone got bricked, & i can’t entering recovery mode, is there any alternative way, like entering download mode, may be? For anybody who can informs me, i say thanks a lot

  35. Dito
    September 19, 2014

    Kingzone K1 rebrand into Lumid 1M http://kask.us/hMBNc

  36. Guest
    September 19, 2014

    Kingzone K1 rebrand into Lumid 1M http://kask.us/hMBNc

  37. trolleyfan
    September 20, 2014

    Gionee S5.5 has been recently announced in Russia as Prestigio Grace

  38. trolleyfan
    September 20, 2014

    Gionee S5.5 has been recently announced in Russia as Prestigio Grace

  39. B
    September 20, 2014

    Gionee is also known as General Mobille in Turkey! 🙂

  40. Guest
    September 20, 2014

    Gionee is also known as General Mobille in Turkey! 🙂

  41. blackmondy
    September 24, 2014

    China phones should really name their brands with a more international flavor.

  42. blackmondy
    September 24, 2014

    China phones should really name their brands with a more international flavor.

  43. Stefan Amarandei
    August 7, 2015

    Anyone knows what Gionee CTRL V5/Gionee GN 715 is rebranded to ? Other than allview v1 viper S4G or Condor C7 ?

  44. Stefan Amarandei
    August 7, 2015

    Anyone knows what Gionee CTRL V5/Gionee GN 715 is rebranded to ? Other than allview v1 viper S4G or Condor C7 ?

  45. Craazy Hacker
    September 19, 2015

    Nice article!! I want to add some info:
    (Source) Gionee Elife S5.5 (China) =
    (Clones)
    Blu Vivo IV = Himax Pure S = Condor C8s (Algeria) = Evertek EverSlim (Tunisia) = Allview X2 Soul (Romania) = Prestigio Grace (Russia) = QMobile Z6 (Pakistan)

    • Haseeb Chowdhury
      September 29, 2015

      Also Walton Primo X3(Bangladesh)

  46. Craazy Hacker
    September 19, 2015

    Nice article!! I want to add some info:
    (Source) Gionee Elife S5.5 (China) =
    (Clones)
    Blu Vivo IV = Himax Pure S = Condor C8s (Algeria) = Evertek EverSlim (Tunisia) = Allview X2 Soul (Romania) = Prestigio Grace (Russia) = QMobile Z6 (Pakistan)

    • Haseeb Chowdhury
      September 29, 2015

      Also Walton Primo X3(Bangladesh)

  47. October 9, 2015

    There are several italian brands such as Komu, Nodis, Brondi, NGM, Stonex; do you know their real OEM/ODM? Thanks

  48. Marcello De Marca
    October 9, 2015

    There are several italian brands such as Komu, Nodis, Brondi, NGM, Stonex; do you know their real OEM/ODM? Thanks

  49. Rowell Estrebillo
    April 9, 2016

    Any idea about the other name for MyPhone Infinity 2? The one with mt6752m 8 arm cortex a53 cpu core, with 2gb ram and 16gb rom?

  50. Rowell Estrebillo
    April 9, 2016

    Any idea about the other name for MyPhone Infinity 2? The one with mt6752m 8 arm cortex a53 cpu core, with 2gb ram and 16gb rom?

  51. Shad
    May 6, 2017

    any one know gionee s6s similar mobiles ? thank you

  52. Guest
    May 6, 2017

    any one know gionee s6s similar mobiles ? thank you

  53. Igpo cabolbol
    May 20, 2017

    Easy way to know the phones oem is checking the imei. Cherry mobile flare j1 is a mingren phone( china)

  54. Guest
    May 20, 2017

    Easy way to know the phones oem is checking the imei. Cherry mobile flare j1 is a mingren phone( china)