YotaPhone
3
Russian
company Yota is famous for its dual-screened devices. Yota
announced that its third dual-screen smartphone, the YotaPhone 3, will be
manufactured in partnership with Chinese mobile giant ZTE.
The
deal with ZTE should cut the price of the YotaPhone 3 by 30 percent, which will
allow the dual-screen device to compete with the OnePlus 2, Moto X Style, and
other cost-effective premium smartphones running Android.
YotaPhone
3 will continue to have two screens: one side LCD and one side E-Ink. The two
screens allow users to choose between the battery-saving back panel and the
colorful front screen. Yota continues to update its E-Ink screen for more
compatibility with third-party app developers.
This
is the first piece of news from Yota since the cancelled Indiegogo campaign to
bring the YotaPhone 2 to the United States. More than enough people backed the
project, but Yota said it could not start manufacturing due to supply issues.
The
company offered a full refund or an international version of the YotaPhone 2 to
its disappointed backers. Yota did not say if the YotaPhone 3 will come to the
United States at launch, but with ZTE helping behind the scenes, there are no
supply issues to worry the Russian company.
ZTE
plans to launch the YotaPhone 3 in the first quarter of 2016. The price is
still unavailable, but using Yota’s estimations it should cost US$ 420.
