Elephone M3 Pro will get Sony IMX230, Android 6 and US LTE


Elephone M3 Pro

Elephone will be launch 2 versions of their new Elephone M3 phone, with the flagship M3 Pro revealed today to get higher rear camera and storage specifications.

Elephone launched the Elephone M1 (review here) and Elephone M2 (hands on here) this year, as proof that they were capable of making affordable phones with high-quality alloy bodies. The M range will grow by 2 soon with the release of the M3 and M3 Pro.

We had already reported on the M3 and it’s specifications which include an aircraft grade alloy frame, Mediatek Helio P10 chip and 5.5-inch LD display. The M3 Pro gets the same along with USB Type C, an update to a Sony IMX230 rear sensor and more internal storage (but how much we haven’t been told).

Gizchina News of the week


The big excitement for the M3 and M3 Pro though is that they will both offer native LTE support to customers in the U.S! Cheap Android phone are headed to America!

Elephone M3 Pro

We’ll have more details of the Elephone M3 Pro soon. In other news the Elephone P8000 gets another update (details here) and the M2 range of phones will soon come in a Rose Gold colour option.

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 Ulefone Paris X gets lower spec and slightly lower price tag
Next Elephone Ivory hands on video

78 Comments

  1. Muhammad Yasir
    December 9, 2015

    “we make it happen”

    and the ‘it’ NEVER HAPPENS 😀 !

    • mikey
      December 9, 2015

      LOL

    • Yeti hand
      December 9, 2015

      clap clap clap clap

      • Dante
        December 10, 2015

        fap fap fap fap

        (in relation to xiaomi only >:( )

  2. Muhammad Yasir
    December 9, 2015

    i thought the M3 was supposed to tackle UMI rome and cost a price well suited for budget customers ?!

    wth Elephone!

    • Frederick Micallef
      December 9, 2015

      The Elephone Ivory is the competitor of the UMI Rome, which has circa the same price, this M3 doesn’t look shabby at all, kinda digging its design, will wait for reviews.

      • Muhammad Yasir
        December 9, 2015

        hmm … looks decent to me as well.
        but anything above $200 coming from Elephone HAS to be viewed with the highest level of scrutiny !

        • balcobomber25
          December 9, 2015

          Let me fix that for you:

          ….but anything coming from Elephone HAS to be viewed with the highest level of scrutiny !

          Now it is correct.

          • Muhammad Yasir
            December 9, 2015

            hahah , ofcourse

  3. Manjurul Islam
    December 9, 2015

    But do you guys still think Elephone is still a good purchase, be it M2 or upcoming models? Regarding their quality, craftsmanship, longevity, durability and software supports, elephone looks like a spammer to me.

    • Nilzie
      January 5, 2016

      M2 is good

  4. Young
    December 9, 2015

    Another useless phone from useless Elephone.

    I can’t use any Elephone phone, even when given for free.

    • Airyl
      December 9, 2015

      I don’t know, I’d probably take an Elephone for free.

      • Joel Adames
        December 9, 2015

        Hahahahahaha. So would I 😉

      • balcobomber25
        December 9, 2015

        I would take any phone for free. If nothing else it makes an alternate GPS, MP3 player or travel camera.

  5. E8hffff
    December 9, 2015

    Wont be much different to the specs of the P9000 series.

  6. greg
    December 9, 2015

    Just what I need LTE bands for the U.S. I´ll get for sure this one

    • balcobomber25
      December 9, 2015

      I would rather be stuck with 3G bands and have a reliable phone than LTE bands for a phone that will be worthless in a month when Elephone abandons it.

  7. jimberkas
    December 9, 2015

    interesting, very interesting…
    being in the US, and having never bought a direct from china phone, I’ve been very curious to one a try. if its not too spendy, I’ll probably give it a go. Shouldn’t really be more expensive than the Vowney, right?

    • balcobomber25
      December 9, 2015

      If you have never used a Chinese phone don’t start with Elephone. It will completely ruin the experience for you and turn you off to Chinese phones completely. Start with a reliable brand like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Meizu, Huawei, Lenovo, Jiayu or ZTE. They all offer great phones at every price level and all of them have good support. The Elephone may look better in the spec sheet but they are known to lie about specs and use cheaper parts inside that won’t last as long, they also have horrible service and support. And when you do decide to purchase one make sure you use Paypal.

      • RuR
        December 9, 2015

        ZTE’s software is terrible

        • balcobomber25
          December 9, 2015

          It’s a lot better than Elephone, ZTE at least provides updates.

          • Frederick Micallef
            December 9, 2015

            to be honest from the experience I had with Chinese smartphones, their software all leaves a lot to be desired.

            Zopo zp998 had as well hardware issues (GPS antenna) but only the very last updates by meizu that made the mx4 good, before when initially bought it was somewhat sluggish. Xiaomi in terms of their software took a few steps back and led their OS be more RAM heavy.

            • balcobomber25
              December 10, 2015

              To be honest it all depends on the company and your persona preferences. You could say the software leaves a lot to be desired about most phone companies not named Apple.

              Your Zoppo’s GPS was horrible because of the SoC/Modem it used. Every phone with older Mediatek chips had bad GPS regardless of the software. MIUI (Xiaomi) has always been very RAM heavy, but it is still one of the best and most stable UI’s available. I would take MIUI over TouchWhiz (Samsung) or Xperia (Sony) any day.

            • Frederick Micallef
              December 10, 2015

              True, mt6592 had gps issues overall, it lacked glonass, but xiaomi note still managed to get a good signal and zopo had released a new gps antenna to install yourself since the material of the former antenna wasn’t adequate to provide good signal..albeit still problematic.

              Latest touchwiz seems to be better now, especially with samsung developing more for their exynos socs.

              Sony os lags terribly, had the z ultra, though as well the xperia z5 fixes seems to be addressing many issues and simplifying the os in their marshmellow update to be lagfree.

              I dunno but from smartphones i owned, it seems, the best os is the stock android, but i find it rather boring, if am paying for a smartphone I would like to own some features exclusive to that smartphone but they seem to come at a price.

              Ironically latest smartphone i tried was ecoo e04, too plasticky, but software wise i found it well, no lags, good gps, notifications never failing etc.

              Have you had experience with huawei os? Would consider one of those in the future, their screens seem wide, a feature i like.

            • balcobomber25
              December 10, 2015

              I hate stock Android and even that has issues. Android 5.0 had the most problems on Google’s own Nexus devices.

              Huawei’s OS is called EMUI. The last one I used was 2.0 (4.0 will be the newest one) and I wasnt a fan of it. But friends who love this brand say since 3.0 it is very good.

            • Nilzie
              January 5, 2016

              Ios updates are the worst! They purposely slow their old models down and you cant decline them

  8. Joel Adames
    December 9, 2015

    If you guys make memory DOESN’T it reminds you of that Ecoo E06 announced a while ago??? Very similar to me and very much from the same parent company.

    • jimberkas
      December 9, 2015

      yep. sure looks like a dead ringer ot the E06. that thing had 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Hoping this would be a bit more updated than that. Hoping for 3/32

    • Frederick Micallef
      December 9, 2015

      yes, I think that actually they’re identical, this happened as well with the ECOO E04 and the Bluboo X6

  9. Yeti hand
    December 9, 2015

    seeing is believing!
    Bring it on!!

  10. Guest
    December 9, 2015

    “we make it happen”

    and the ‘it’ NEVER HAPPENS 😀 !

    • mikey
      December 9, 2015

      LOL

    • Yeti hand
      December 9, 2015

      clap clap clap clap

    • Dante
      December 10, 2015

      fap fap fap fap

      (in relation to xiaomi only >:( )

  11. Guest
    December 9, 2015

    i thought the M3 was supposed to tackle UMI rome and cost a price well suited for budget customers ?!

    wth Elephone!

    • Frederick Micallef
      December 9, 2015

      The Elephone Ivory is the competitor of the UMI Rome, which has circa the same price, this M3 doesn’t look shabby at all, kinda digging its design, will wait for reviews.

    • Guest
      December 9, 2015

      hmm … looks decent to me as well.
      but anything above $200 coming from Elephone HAS to be viewed with the highest level of scrutiny !

    • balcobomber25
      December 9, 2015

      Let me fix that for you:

      ….but anything coming from Elephone HAS to be viewed with the highest level of scrutiny !

      Now it is correct.

    • Guest
      December 9, 2015

      hahah , ofcourse

  12. balcobomber25
    December 9, 2015

    I’ll believe it when I see it. And releasing the phone is one thing, everyone knows they can release phones (except the Vowney which is going on 7 months late now…). Supporting them is entirely different thing. That is something they have yet to prove.

  13. Manjurul Islam
    December 9, 2015

    But do you guys still think Elephone is still a good purchase, be it M2 or upcoming models? Regarding their quality, craftsmanship, longevity, durability and software supports, elephone looks like a spammer to me.

    • Nilzie
      January 5, 2016

      M2 is good

  14. RuR
    December 9, 2015

    Elephone can’t fight Xiaomi and Meizu.

  15. Young
    December 9, 2015

    Another useless phone from useless Elephone.

    I can’t use any Elephone phone, even when given for free.

    • Airyl
      December 9, 2015

      I don’t know, I’d probably take an Elephone for free.

    • Joel Adames
      December 9, 2015

      Hahahahahaha. So would I 😉

    • balcobomber25
      December 9, 2015

      I would take any phone for free. If nothing else it makes an alternate GPS, MP3 player or travel camera.

  16. 10101010101010
    December 9, 2015

    Have these guys even come through with the Vowney?

    Why are they talking about what they will be doing in the future when they aren’t doing anything in the present?

    • December 9, 2015

      just elephone acting as usually…

    • Steve B
      December 9, 2015

      End of December is the final, final, hand on heart, honest govenor, release date.

  17. E8hffff
    December 9, 2015

    Wont be much different to the specs of the P9000 series.

  18. greg
    December 9, 2015

    Just what I need LTE bands for the U.S. I´ll get for sure this one

    • balcobomber25
      December 9, 2015

      I would rather be stuck with 3G bands and have a reliable phone than LTE bands for a phone that will be worthless in a month when Elephone abandons it.

  19. jimberkas
    December 9, 2015

    interesting, very interesting…
    being in the US, and having never bought a direct from china phone, I’ve been very curious to one a try. if its not too spendy, I’ll probably give it a go. Shouldn’t really be more expensive than the Vowney, right?

    • balcobomber25
      December 9, 2015

      If you have never used a Chinese phone don’t start with Elephone. It will completely ruin the experience for you and turn you off to Chinese phones completely. Start with a reliable brand like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Meizu, Huawei, Lenovo, Jiayu or ZTE. They all offer great phones at every price level and all of them have good support. The Elephone may look better in the spec sheet but they are known to lie about specs and use cheaper parts inside that won’t last as long, they also have horrible service and support. And when you do decide to purchase one make sure you use Paypal.

    • RuR
      December 9, 2015

      ZTE’s software is terrible

    • balcobomber25
      December 9, 2015

      It’s a lot better than Elephone, ZTE at least provides updates.

    • Frederick Micallef
      December 9, 2015

      to be honest from the experience I had with Chinese smartphones, their software all leaves a lot to be desired.

      Zopo zp998 had as well hardware issues (GPS antenna) but only the very last updates by meizu that made the mx4 good, before when initially bought it was somewhat sluggish. Xiaomi in terms of their software took a few steps back and led their OS be more RAM heavy.

    • balcobomber25
      December 10, 2015

      To be honest it all depends on the company and your persona preferences. You could say the software leaves a lot to be desired about most phone companies not named Apple.

      Your Zoppo’s GPS was horrible because of the SoC/Modem it used. Every phone with older Mediatek chips had bad GPS regardless of the software. MIUI (Xiaomi) has always been very RAM heavy, but it is still one of the best and most stable UI’s available. I would take MIUI over TouchWhiz (Samsung) or Xperia (Sony) any day.

    • Frederick Micallef
      December 10, 2015

      True, mt6592 had gps issues overall, it lacked glonass, but xiaomi note still managed to get a good signal and zopo had released a new gps antenna to install yourself since the material of the former antenna wasn’t adequate to provide good signal..albeit still problematic.

      Latest touchwiz seems to be better now, especially with samsung developing more for their exynos socs.

      Sony os lags terribly, had the z ultra, though as well the xperia z5 fixes seems to be addressing many issues and simplifying the os in their marshmellow update to be lagfree.

      I dunno but from smartphones i owned, it seems, the best os is the stock android, but i find it rather boring, if am paying for a smartphone I would like to own some features exclusive to that smartphone but they seem to come at a price.

      Ironically latest smartphone i tried was ecoo e04, too plasticky, but software wise i found it well, no lags, good gps, notifications never failing etc.

      Have you had experience with huawei os? Would consider one of those in the future, their screens seem wide, a feature i like.

    • balcobomber25
      December 10, 2015

      I hate stock Android and even that has issues. Android 5.0 had the most problems on Google’s own Nexus devices.

      Huawei’s OS is called EMUI. The last one I used was 2.0 (4.0 will be the newest one) and I wasnt a fan of it. But friends who love this brand say since 3.0 it is very good.

    • Nilzie
      January 5, 2016

      Ios updates are the worst! They purposely slow their old models down and you cant decline them

  20. Joel Adames
    December 9, 2015

    If you guys make memory DOESN’T it reminds you of that Ecoo E06 announced a while ago??? Very similar to me and very much from the same parent company.

    • jimberkas
      December 9, 2015

      yep. sure looks like a dead ringer ot the E06. that thing had 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Hoping this would be a bit more updated than that. Hoping for 3/32

    • Frederick Micallef
      December 9, 2015

      yes, I think that actually they’re identical, this happened as well with the ECOO E04 and the Bluboo X6

  21. Yeti hand
    December 9, 2015

    seeing is believing!
    Bring it on!!

  22. balcobomber25
    December 9, 2015

    I’ll believe it when I see it. And releasing the phone is one thing, everyone knows they can release phones (except the Vowney which is going on 7 months late now…). Supporting them is entirely different thing. That is something they have yet to prove.

  23. RuR
    December 9, 2015

    Elephone can’t fight Xiaomi and Meizu.

  24. 10101010101010
    December 9, 2015

    Why are they talking about what they will be doing in the future when they aren’t doing anything in the present?

    Have these guys even come through with the Vowney?

    • qandrav
      December 9, 2015

      just elephone acting as usually…

    • Steve B
      December 9, 2015

      End of December is the final, final, hand on heart, honest govenor, release date.

  25. Josef Izchaki
    December 10, 2015

    balcobomber25 you must of really been burned by a phone from them with so much hate spewing out of you. Anyone with a little sense can see they have changed, A. you are completely disregarding the fact that in this article andi points to an update for the p8000. Secondly Elephone has been opening new stores and warranty centers worldwide! Any company doing that is worth a try.

  26. Josef Izchaki
    December 10, 2015

    balcobomber25 you must of really been burned by a phone from them with so much hate spewing out of you. Anyone with a little sense can see they have changed, A. you are completely disregarding the fact that in this article andi points to an update for the p8000. Secondly Elephone has been opening new stores and warranty centers worldwide! Any company doing that is worth a try.

  27. Riccardo Benzoni
    December 10, 2015

    this is like.. the 30th phone of the year made by them? This means actually someone is buying them… now this is scary!

  28. Riccardo Benzoni
    December 10, 2015

    this is like.. the 30th phone of the year made by them? This means actually someone is buying them… now this is scary!

  29. Charlles Costa
    December 14, 2015

    In the paper those specs are amazing but in reality I am 99% this phone will be onether let down again from Elephone. I hope I am wrong. 

  30. Charlles Costa
    December 14, 2015

    In the paper those specs are amazing but in reality I am 99% this phone will be onether let down again from Elephone. I hope I am wrong.