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LeEco took to the stage in China today to announce their 3 latest flagship smartphones. We’re getting the Le 2, Le 2Pro, and the Le MaxPro, beautiful devices all one-upping each other in that order.
Starting with the metal unibody Le 2, we’re getting a pretty damn good baseline flagship. Under the hood is where we’re most impressed: it’s the world’s first smartphone to run the 10-core Helio X20 chipset. That’s a 64-bit 2.3GHz chipset with 20% more efficiency than the quad-core Helio X10 used in yesteryear’s model.
Pictured: Le Max2
Another big innovation being introduced here is CDLA — Continual Digital Lossless Audio. It’s hi-fidelity audio which LeEco says is so true to life that it might sound close to what you get straight from a studio booth. The audio is driven by a dedicated chip and to support the standard LeEco also introduced the USB Type-C headphones that can take advantage of the tech.
This would mark the first time that USB Type-C is being used as the primary audio connector in a smartphone. The HTC 10 is doing it first, but it’s not the only connector — 3.5mm still runs the show there. LeEco will include a 3.5mm adapter with each device so that older headphones will still work fine with the smartphones, but you’ll likely lose out on the benefits of CDLA.
Other choice specs for the Le 2 include 16MP and 8MP cameras on the rear and front, respectively, a 5.5-inch full HD display, 3GB of RAM and more. Oh, and all of this is going for the low price of the equivalent of $200 in China. The Le 2Pro is a moderate upgrade over the Le 2, with upgrades being a Helio X25 chipset (also 10-core), 21MP rear camera (Sony IMX230), 4GB of RAM and a retail price of around $230 (¥1499). Both of these models have an adequate 3,000mAh battery to pull from.
The Le Max2 is the cream of the crop and the real star of the show. The device stretches out with a 5.7-inch 2K resolution display and comes in 2 flavors: the regular model with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage for around $325 (¥2099), and the spec’d out version with a ridiculous 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage inside for around $385 (¥2499). Both versions are being powered by a Snapdragon 820 chipset, feature DRR4 RAM, UFS 2.0 for storage, and have a 21MP camera with optical image stabilization — all things absent from the Le 2 and Le 2Pro. There’s also a very minimal battery capacity bump to 3,100mAh.
It was important for the Le Max2 to pitch out top-end specs, what with LeEco hoping to get onto the virtual reality train, and all. They’ve matched their Chinese peers by introducing a VR headset. Like the Samsung Gear VR, it’s little more than an enclosure, but years better than using Cardboard.
As you can see, LeEco’s 2016 flagship line is considerably cheaper than the top-end phones from their rivals but how do they do it? LeEco is able to deliver these high-end smartphones at affordable rates due to the TV services they bundle with the phones in their home country which essentially subsidize pricing.
Will that translate to lower price tags when some of these phones launch in the US as the company is reportedly planning to do? It’s tough to say, but our interest is definitely piqued.
We’re not sure how valuable those TV deals in China are, but we can’t imagine the industry-standard advertising schtick of pre-loading apps is going to allow them to offer these insanely powerful smartphones at insanely cheap prices. Nevertheless, LeEco has our attention. Stick with Phandroid as we look to bring you hands-on coverage of the new smartphones in the moments to come.
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