The new phones of week 36

Chip, 10 September 2017

A bunch of new hardware debuted this week as manufacturers keep working overtime to strengthen their Fall and holiday season squads. The Xiaomi Mi A1 was the most interesting of the bunch, becoming the first stock Android device by the Chinese company, but it was only one of the eight new launches.

Huawei showcased its Honor V9 Play mid-ranger with a compact stylish shell, but otherwise unassuming specs. It's priced very attractively though, so it might be worth keeping an eye on if you are on a tight budget. Alongside it came the Honor 6 Play, which is the Honor-branded twin to the Huawei Y6 (2017).

vivo debuted its first FullView display handset - the V7+. It's mostly a mid-range affair, but it's also the debut of the Snapdragon 450 - the first 14nm 400-series chipset by Qualcomm.

Lenovo unveiled the K8 and K8 Plus - both built around 5.2" displays, but the Plus has a more upmarket FullHD panel. The phones also share the 4,000 mAh battery so they should offer excellent power autonomy.

Finally, the Samsung Galaxy C8 and ZTE Blade A2S went official, even if they aren't entirely new devices, but merely new names for existing ones. The Samsung was previously known as Galaxy J7+ and Galaxy C7 (2017), while the ZTE was called Blade V7 Plus.