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Chinese phone maker Nubia arrived at the latest edition of Mobile World Congress to showcase several devices, including three prototypes of an unannounced smartphone concept designed with a focus on Android gaming. All of the newly unveiled devices feature highly unconventional and aggressive designs with sharp lines and fluorescent orange accents that amount to a rather in-your-face aesthetic. The end result is flashy and highly unapologetic, especially in regards to the prototype which features a blue LED stripe running vertically across its back, as well as two red LED lights sitting near the top of its sides. The three concepts aren’t meant to be commercialized and are instead all being showcased as prototypes of a single device Nubia is seeking to launch in the future.
That future also isn’t too distant as the original equipment manufacturer already decided on the basic specs that are set to be included in its unnamed device, a company representative told Android Headlines. According to the official, the handset is meant to feature the Snapdragon 845, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal flash memory. No specific screen size has yet been decided on, though Nubia appears to be set on pursuing an elongated 18:9 aspect ratio which gained significant traction in the mobile industry in the last twelve months, whereas all of the newly demonstrated prototypes appear large enough to house 6-inch or even larger displays.
A microSD card should also be part of the package, as suggested by the vast majority of the company’s previously released offerings. The fact that two out of three prototypes shown at MWC 2018 have rear-mounted fingerprint readers indicates the front of the final product will lack a physical Home button and presumably feature relatively minimal bezels. Nubia still hasn’t finalized the camera design of the smartphone as its prototypes feature both single-lens and dual-sensor systems.
Stereo speakers are expected to be included in the final product, whereas some of the revealed concepts toyed with the idea of having rubberized corners, presumably so as to improve the grip of the device users have while gaming. While the concept has yet to be finalized and LED lights aren’t likely to be featured on the commercial product given how they’d significantly affect its average battery life, all of the prototypes Nubia is presently toying with are flashy and imposing, suggesting the official smartphone will follow the same design philosophy. A precise launch window has yet to be attached to the project, though Nubia is presently hoping to commercialize its first Android gaming handset by the end of the year.
All things considered, it appears that Nubia is preparing to take on the Razer Phone going forward and the basic specs it has in mind for its first Android-powered gaming smartphone should even be enough to compete with the Razer Phone 2 that’ expected to launch later this year. Nubia may not be the only Chinese OEM that’s seeking to appeal to mobile gamers in the near future, with Xiaomi subsidiary Black Shark reportedly having plans to do the same.
