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Lenovo releases three new phones in China after more than a year of silence

Lenovo releases three new phones in China after more than a year of silence

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After over a year of not releasing any new phones, Lenovo has launched three phones in China today. There’s the main flagship S5 model, and two lower-end budget phones: the K5 and the K5 Play, presumably meant for children.

From a glance, the new phones resemble so many other Android phones, and have more than a slight likeness to the iPhone 6.

The Lenovo S5 has a 5.7-inch screen with an 18:9 aspect ratio and a 2160 x 1080 resolution. The back is made of metal. It’s powered by a Snapdragon 625 chip and a 3,000mAh battery. You can choose between 3GB or 4GB of RAM, and 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB of storage.

The S5 has dual 13-megapixel rear cameras and a 16-megapixel front-facing selfie cam. The device runs Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box with a ZUI skin overlay. It starts at 999 CNY ($157.74) and goes up to 1499 CNY ($236.69). Lenovo’s covered its bases in typical phone colors: the S5 comes in midnight black and flame red.

Lenovo likely sees the S5 as a competitor to Xiaomi’s recently launched Redmi Note 5 in China. It’s a market that Lenovo is still struggling to win over, against more popular brands like Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo.

(L to R) K5 Play, K5
(L to R) K5 Play, K5

The other two phones, the K5 and K5 Play, both have 5.7-inch displays with 1440 x 720 resolutions. The K5 has rear 13-megapixel and 5-megapixel dual cameras, while the K5 Play has 13-megapixel and 2-megapixel dual cameras. The K5 has a MediaTek MT6750 chip and runs Android Oreo, while the K5 Play has a Snapdragon 450 chip and runs Android Nougat. The K5 costs 899 CNY ($141.93) and the K5 Play costs 699 CNY ($110.35). Both phones let you use facial recognition or fingerprint to unlock them, and have a beauty mode in their cameras.

All three phones are available for preorder in China only.