The news out of CES that Lenovo unveiled a new lineup of thin smartphones did not surprise many.
What did surprise was that Lenovo will make these new smartphones available in “select global markets.”
Lenovo has been selling smartphones in China for years but this will be the first time Lenovo smartphones will be available outside of China.
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A Lenovo Canada official told CDN that Canada and the U.S. will not be on that selected list of markets.
One Canadian source told CDN last year that there was consideration to bring Lenovo smartphones to Canadian retail.
The other global markets are Russia, Indonesia, India and some smaller Asia Pacific regions. The new Lenovo smartphones will not be made available in Western Europe either.
As for these new smartphones released last night at CES, Lenovo has put a lot of effort into the design of these new devices. The company has targeted different types of users such as entry-level, young professionals and advanced users. The five new models will fit into the hands of these users with custom configurations tailored for a distinct user groups.
For example, the P-series smartphone at slated for business professionals and feature long battery life, special security and anti-virus features. All these new devices will have dual-SIM slots along with 5-inch or larger higher resolution displays.
Liu Jun, a senior advisor for Lenovo said for smartphone users, one size does not fit all. The company learned from customers, and now knows they have many different, unique reasons for selecting Lenovo smartphones.
No details were released on pricing except that it would be competitive.
The flagship smartphone from Lenovo is called the K900 and it is being dubbed a “premium smartphone” by the company. The K900 has a slim profile of 6.9 millimeters along with a 5.5-inch IPS screen using touch-capacitive Gorilla Glass. The device runs on an Intel Atom processor and weighs in at 162g (5.7 ounces). The unit is made from a composite of stainless steel alloy and polycarbonate in a unibody mold. The rear camera array is optimized for size with a new sensor and layout that does not protrude from the case, leaving a clean, smooth rear face that doesn’t snag on clothing, the company said.
The design team at Lenovo also tweaked the PCB and battery layout to reduce the space used by internal components. And the K900 is topped off by a “stripe” ID language that reinforces the thin body and integrates the external components.