Lenovo, the Chinese giant that virtually ruled the Indian low- and mid-range smartphone market, plans to introduce three new smartphone models to the country in the next 30 days or so, according to sources.
These models are the Lenovo A2020, which will be priced around Rs 5,000, A6020 — priced around Rs 7,000 — and a new variant of the mid-range Lenovo S1 called S1l.
The exact specifications of the models are not known, but given the pricing and the model numbers it can be inferred that these are successor models of the A2010, which sells for Rs 4,999 on Flipkart, and the A6000 Plus.
While there is no mention of the A2020 on the Internet anywhere, the Lenovo A6020 has a listing on the Lenovo shop website for Slovakia.
The listing offers virtually no extra information and the model has been tagged ‘new’. No pricing details have been given.
However, for illustration, the site is using the photographs of Lenovo A6000 Shot — which was launched in India three months ago and is available at around Rs 9,200 online. The A6000 Shot, as you might remember, was a variant of the original smartphone with better cameras — 13 MP plus 5 MP — and Android Lolipop operating system.
It is not clear whether the Lenovo A6020 is also simply a variant of the Shot, or whether the shop is using the photographs as a placeholder.
The second upcoming model from the Chinese giant is the A2020 — the successor to the A2010, which was not a success in India due to its extremely basic specifications. However, the model may have met its goal of ensuring Lenovo’s presence even in the bare-minimum entry-level segment.
No specifications of the A2020 are available right now, but the A2010 came with MediaTek MT6735 chipset and a 4.5-inch 0.4 MP display.
The third model is the ‘l’ variant of the already launched Lenovo S1. The S1 is available in India at Rs 14,999 and offers specifications which are similar to that of the recently unveiled K4 Note.
However, being an S series device, the build quality of the S1 is considered to be superior to that of the Note.
All three models will be launched towards the end of this month or early next month, according to a company source.
The company has been hit by dirt-cheap pricing from rival LeTV, which has managed to successfully divert consumer attention away from the K4 Note.