Huawei Launches P8 Lite 2017 Android With Nougat
Chinese tech and telecommunications firm Huawei has launched an updated version of its P8 Lite smartphone, the P8 Lite 2017.
The new version comes with plenty of new bells and whistles to attract Android users.
“Huawei has refreshed the P8 Lite with a 2017 model that features upgraded hardware in the form of a 5.2-inch Full HD display and a Kirin 655 SoC. The phone also comes with 3GB of RAM and a rather disappointing 16GB internal memory, but there is a microSD card slot,” Android Central‘s Harish Jonnalagadda reports.
“Unlike the Honor 6X — which has a dual camera setup at the back — P8 Lite offers a 12MP camera at the back and an 8MP shooter up front. There’s also a 3000mAh battery, and the phone features the Nougat-based EMUI 5.0 out of the box.”
The launch of the P8 Lite 2017 Android smartphone comes amidst an ongoing effort by Huawei to expand into the the U.S. and European smartphone markets.
In November, the Inquisitr reported on the much-anticipated launch of the Huawei Mate 9 Android, which Huawei called the “most powerful smartphone in the world” at the time. The Mate 9 was available only in the Asian and European markets at the time and received positive reviews from tech publications, particularly for its battery life and general longevity.
Huawei’s P8 Lite 2017 runs Nougat out of the box, will go up for sale in Europe later this monthhttps://t.co/xmjLTpFIit pic.twitter.com/Xii6t8BsiO
— Android Central (@androidcentral) January 13, 2017
The launch of the Mate 9 in the Asian and European markets was followed by reports that, in the wake of the massive Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall, Huawei had become the most profitable Android brand for the third quarter of 2016. That success may be short-lived, as Samsung — as a whole — quickly bounced back to post record profits for the year, as the Wall Street Journal reported. This was due largely in part to increased sales by Samsung’s semi-conductor and microchip divisions picking up the slack of the Android division.
It will be difficult for Huawei to permanently dethrone Samsung as the reigning king of the Android market, but the launch of the P8 Lite 2017 is just the latest indicator that the Shenzhen-based company is going to give it a go, and the launch of the updated P8 Lite 2017 comes on the heels of the release of the Mate 9 in the United States.
At the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this January, Huawei announced that the Mate 9 will come with Amazon’s Alexa artificial intelligence personal assistant preloaded in all units sold in the United States.
The company had been looking for a way to make a splash upon its entrance into the U.S. market, and adding Alexa was apparently just the trick they needed to do so.
“Huawei launched its flagship Mate 9 phablet in Europe and Asia late last year without the Alexa preload so it’s evidently hoping to raise its profile in the U.S. with the help of Amazon’s ecommerce empire,” Natasha Lomas wrote in an article for Tech Crunch.
Huawei’s biggest and best phone lands today on Three UKhttps://t.co/W6a52kTNd2 pic.twitter.com/RCarL6i3oG
— Android Central (@androidcentral) January 13, 2017
It seems to have worked. A January 7 press release from Huawei notes that the Mate 9 received eight awards from “global media” after its debut at CES 2017. Among the most prestigious of the awards was the Wall Street Journal recognizing the Mate 9 as one of “Best of CES 2017” products. CES also named the Mate 9 a CES Innovation Award 2017 Honoree for its “impressive design and performance.”
The P8 Lite 2017 will probably not garner the accolades or hype that the Mate 9 has enjoyed, but it is yet another impressive offering in Huawei’s expanding catalog of Android smartphones.
The P8 Lite 2017 is expected to go on sale in European markets by the end of January, with an estimated price tag of €239 ($250), according to Android Central. If the release schedule of the Mate 9 is any indicator, the P8 Lite 2017 can be expected in the U.S. soon after its European launch.
[Featured Image by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images]
