LAS VEGAS – Chinese consumers may be the first to see some of the hottest new smartphones from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Motorola’s new owner (Lenovo), and Nokia’s new owner (Microsoft), both released new smartphones at CES and said that they would target markets outside the United States. Other new and notable smartphone launches came from HTC and LG, and it looks like those phones will be coming to the United States.
Key themes for this year’s Android smartphone launches are 64-bit processors and 5.5-inch displays. Both trends follow standards set by Apple, which launched the industry’s first 64-bit processor in a smartphone last year, and introduced the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus this year.
HTC Desire 826
Those who desire awesome selfies should be pleased with HTC’s latest offering – the Desire 826 moves HTC’s ultrapixel camera to the front of the phone. Using more pixels to bring in more light was touted as a major innovation when HTC launched it two years ago, at a time when few would have considered putting a phone’s best camera on the front. The HTC 826 sports a 13 megapixel rear camera as well.
The new HTC phone’s 5.5-inch 1080p display is in line with what appears to be an emerging industry standard — the iPhone 6 Plus, the LG G Flex and the Huawei Honor 6 all have 5.5-inch displays, and the next Samsung Galaxy phone is also expected to have a 5.5-inch display.
The HTC Desire 826 is powered by Qualcomm’s 64-bit Snapdragon 615 octacore processor. Chipmakers have been working hard to bring 64-bit chips to smartphones ever since Apple released the iPhone 5S with the industry’s first 64-bit smartphone processor.
HTC has not shared a date for the Desire 826’s arrival in the United States, but the company’s website does list the U.S. as one of the phone’s target markets.
LG G Flex 2
Like HTC, LG seems to have improved upon a key smartphone innovation with its latest release. The LG G Flex 2 is the Korean company’s second curved smartphone, but this time the curve is less pronounced. And at 5.5 inches the phone is smaller than its predecessors.
Resilience is a key selling point for the G Flex 2. The phone’s plastic cover erases minor scratches and scrapes on its own, and LG has treated Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 with a chemical that it claims has made the glass on the G Flex 2 20% stronger.
The Android 5 (Lollipop) phone is powered by Qualcomm’s 64-bit 2GHz 810 octa-core processor. It supports category 6 carrier aggregation.
The G Flex 2 goes on sale first in Korea, but LG says it will come to the rest of the world shortly thereafter.
Lenovo P90
Motorola’s new owner Lenovo is targeting road warriors with its new P90 smartphone, which packs a 4000mAh battery and is the first smartphone powered by Intel’s 64-bit Atom Z3560 1.8 GHz quad-core processor. The Android 4.4 (KitKat) phone has a 13 megapixel camera on the back and a 5 megapixel camera on the front. The P90 will support LTE-A, both TDD and FDD.
Lenovo will not bring the phone to any U.S. carriers, but the Chinese company will sell the phone directly from its website. LTE bands supported are 800, 1800, 2100 and 2600 (Bands 1, 3, 7, 20).
Nokia 215
Microsoft’s new Nokia 215 is a $29 phone, but that’s not the price most people will end up paying. The phone will not be priced in dollars when it hits the market later this quarter, because Microsoft is targeting Africa, Asia and the Middle East with this entry-level 2G smartphone.
Microsoft is building on Nokia’s continued strength in emerging markets, where many people still own Nokia feature phones. The Nokia 215 phone will be positioned as the perfect way to transition to a smartphone, and for many users it will offer their first reliable access to the Internet. Facebook, Twitter, Messenger and Bing will be all be pre-installed on the Nokia 215.
Follow me on Twitter.
