Lenovo’s Vibe Z smartphone may be its first for the U.S.

By Andy Boxall September 30, 2013

Lenovo Vibe X — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Lenovo announced a new smartphone over the weekend, the Vibe X, and at the same Beijing event, another phone named the Vibe Z was spotted. The Vibe X was pre-launched at the beginning of the month, but this is the first time we’ve been introduced to the Vibe Z, albeit slightly unofficially. Lenovo has gained some serious market share this year, with a Gartner report from August putting it around five percent, more than ZTE and equal to LG. Don’t forget, Lenovo only sells phones in China and Asia.

However, we’re expecting this to change, as the firm’s CEO said in May, “Smartphones are our new opportunity,” and confirmed a range of Lenovo phones would be coming to the U.S. in the next 12 months. According to GSMInsider in a report on the event, Lenovo’s Group Vice President Liu Jun said the new Vibe series of phones were aimed at younger buyers and the international market. While the Vibe Z wasn’t singled out, it’s the ideal device to spearhead an international launch.

Why? I’s the successor to the interesting K900, it has the right specs, and taps into the current obsession with screens the size of our faces. Here’s what it’s all about. The screen measures 5.5-inches and has a 1080p resolution, while the processor is a 2.2GHz, quad-core Snapdragon 800. A 13-megapixel camera sits on the back of the phone, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean is its OS, although Lenovo has apparently promised an update to both 4.3 and 4.4 KitKat in the future. The chassis measures just 6.9mm, which is very slim for a phone this size.

We’re less interested in the Vibe X, which is pictured above, as although the 5-inch, 1080p display is good, the quad-core MediaTek processor isn’t quite so attractive, although at the equivalent of $470 unlocked, it is good value. Lenovo hasn’t confirmed the Vibe Z officially yet, so the price and any release plans are unknown, so there’s plenty of time for it to announce a launch either in America or another region. The question is, will it strike up a deal with a network, or go it alone like Oppo?

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Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…

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