A couple of months back, Lenovo pulled a pretty blatant bait and switch when teasing the first ‘truly’ bezel-less smartphone. What we got with the Lenovo Z5 was the same old notch most manufacturers had been pushing throughout 2018. Shortly thereafter, full-screen nirvana arrived with the Vivo Nex phone.
So forgive us for expressing some caution as Lenovo tips itself to launch the first 5G smartphone, complete with the next-generation Snapdragon 855 processor and Qualcomm’s X50 5G modem. Insert the ponderous emoji face here.
The word comes from Lenovo VP Chang Cheng (via wccftech), who didn’t provide any information on a potential release date in a Weibo post, but a launch before the end of the year seems fanciful.
However, reports earlier this week suggested the as-yet-unannounced Snapdragon 855 – which is rumoured to be the first built with the 7nm FinFET architecture – has been in production since early June. That’s earlier the chipmaker’s usual production schedule for its flagship SoC.
That may accelerate the timeline of its appearance in mainstream smartphones, although if history is any guide, they won’t turn up until early 2019. In order to be the first to launch a 5G-Ready phone, Lenovo is going to have to pull out some serious stops.
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Also, it’s questionable whether it’s worth rushing to be the first 5G-Ready phone when the speeds themselves won’t be available until an unspecified date next year, at the earliest.
The comments also come from the same Lenovo executive who sold smartphone fans a bill of goods with his Z5 bezel-less tease. Unfortunately for Lenovo he has put statements from the company in the same spot on the reliability scale as leaks from around the web. Can the firm win back some trust by delivering the goods here?
Do you trust Lenovo to deliver this time around? Or is another damaging stunt from the Chinese firm? Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
