Our sources at ZUK have hinted that the Lenovo start up could launch a new product at MWC, will it be the ZUK Z2?
Today the price of the current ZUK Z1 was cut in China to just 1499 Yuan causing speculation that the ZUK Z2 might be on the verge of launching. We put our feelers out to see if our ZUK contacts could tell us anything and we got a bit of a bite.
Gizchina News of the week
Our sources at ZUK didn’t comment on the price cut, but they did mention that there is a possibility that a new ZUK product would launching during MWC. They said that ZUK won’t officially be at the international Expo though, hinting that we might see something ZUK related at one of their partners booths.
ZUK Z2 Renders
Last year Nubia had their Z9 phone hidden at the Qualcomm booth, and Vivo have already confirmed that their phones will be on show via Qualcomm, so we will be taking a good look there to see if a mystery ZUK machine is hidden away next week.
Speaking of the ZUK Z2 though, our sources also commented that the Z2 is scheduled to go on sale during either May or June, so even if the phone is seen at MWC we still have a few months before we can buy one.
Could be the one for me then if they’re still dealing with Cyanogen officially…
If they set the original price at 319€ for a phone with a 2 years old soc, i can’t imagine what they’ll do with the all new sd820 (due to the higher price tag the newer socs bring, not talking about the soc cost itself here)… The Z1 is still far overpriced even with those cuts it’s been through recently, so the Z2 will easily be over 400$… Not saying it’s not worth it if they manage to improve over the Z1, but still… :-/
A phone is made up of a lot more than just a SoC. The SoC doesn’t cost as much as many people think. At the time they launched their phone the 810 was mired in controversy so they used a reliable and still excellent chip. The price was on par with similar specced phones. A 64GB OnePlus One is still selling for over $350 on many resllers. Need to look at the whole package and not just the SoC.
The OP1 64GB from oneplus website at $299 no invite needed
And the Zuk Z1 from Zuk Website is $299. The Zuk has OIS and Fingerprint scanner, the OP1 does not.
Yeah but a year later.
There are too many people caring of the SoC and Antutu points rather than OIS or fingerprint scanner.
That’s why we need to educate people to look past Antutu.
I kinda agree with MattD.
The Zuk Z1 was a different product to compare with others.
My opinion? It was slightly overpriced.
I’m curious to see how they are going to price a new phone with all new specs
Everyone has their opinion, I just think for what it offered it justified the price.
We’ll see how they handle the price this year. I might be wrong.
I think the price will be exactly the same.
With SD820? I highly doubt it.
Oneplus couldn’t keep the original price with the SD810 and besides the SoC there was not much difference from the first model.
If you’re correct than I’ll consider Zuk too.
People seem to think SD820 is going to be significantly more expensive than past SD flagship SoCs just because it’s more powerful. I don’t really get that logic.
The SD810 was more expensive than SD801.
Oneplus, Nubia to name few of them raised their price when the only update was about the SoC.
If I remember correctly Oneplus CEO itself said that they couldn’t keep the same price due to a more expensive SoC.
Also, the SD820 is being made by Samsung and that might influence the final cost.
Without seeing a detailed BOM from them it’s impossible to say the increase cost was solely due to the SoC. The SoC wasn’t the only difference between the One and the Two. Because the Two was using a SD810 they had to deal with the added heat, so they used graphite heatsinks and thermal paste, those attributed to the extra costs of the 810. But the Two also had the following differences:
Fingerprint sensor
USB Type C (compared to Micro USB)
Ultra Bright LCD Panel
4GB RAM (compared to 3GB)
OIS/Laser focus
All of this contributed to the added cost. Not to mention there is two economic factors. First they lost funding from CM which contributed to the pricing of the One. Second the Chinese economy was down last year compared to the year prior. It’s easy to look and say “it’s more expensive because the SoC is more powerful” but you have to look at the entire package.
Makes sense, that’s why I’m curious to see what’s gonna happen with the new generation of phones.
I have a feeling that ZuK wont come with the SD820 but rather a SD808 or SD650/652
Note I’m curious:
So was CM funding Oneplus and not vice versa?
I thought that CM used to get paid and they became greedy and wanted more money
The way I understood it and I could be wrong, haven’t been able to find the actual contract terms in the legal files, is: CM paid OnePlus initially to get their ROM on phones and OnePlus paid for after sales service.
CM basically used OnePlus to get their name in Asia, Micromax then came in and gave CM a boatload of money to be their exclusive partner. Micromax is getting screwed in that deal, CM has full control over everything software related including what apps it ships with. In other words CM can sell advertising space (bloatware) and Micromax has no say in it, gets no money from it, and suffers the reputation hit from it.
Ohh OK.
Well, I’ve been using CM for a while now with MIUI starter pack (launcher, theme and icons lol).
It feels a little faster on the same hardware (MI4 and OPO have the same hardware besides the screen)
But I’ve found more issues (that have never been fixed so far) on the OPO than on MI4.
With the last update of MIUI7 the speed of MI4 increased a lot almost matching the OPO/CM.
For my experience MIUI is superior.
I don’t even care of locked bootloader. I put MIUI on non MI devices too.
CM is overestimated.
Anyway, go look at the new MI5 post. Prepare your check
I think I need to change my pants after reading that
I think “redmi note 3 pro” is quite the answer here: it has similar or better specs, but a lower price in china (never mind resellers’greed).
What you said is totally true, and the z1 is overall one of the best phone of 2015 imho, but i think it’s still overpriced for what it offers, considering many of the components it uses had a price drop as years went by
Maybe at the Lenovo booth?
Nice. I’ve been looking forward to hearing more about the Z2. I hope it runs Cyanogen OS on the international model and that it has LTE band 20 and NFC.
I’ve been looking forward to the Z2. I hope the international model has LTE band 20 and NFC and runs Cyanogen OS.
Nice! been dying to hear from ZUK.
I’m really hoping they release something for those of us in the US
The ZUK Z1 is a little overpriced in the West, but in China, if you care enough to check their Chinese website, the Z1 is priced very competitive, at least way better than oneplus in China. I’ve been using it since its launch and I’m very pleased so far, especially with cyanogen os on it. If they keep up this great work and still have the cyanogen partnership for the 2 then I’m in. Cyanogen os is still way better than miui, flyme and other Chinese forks of Android when it comes to usability in the West.
ZUK has disappeared from the world. I bought a zuk z1, they promised zuk would offer warranty. When I contacted zuk.hk, no replay. Then relative zuk.com staff said they were not responsible for overseas issues, nowhere to contact zuk now. Please help if someone could reach zuk overseas team.