April was a decent month for smartphone lovers, as some exceptional phones like iPhone SE, CREO Mark 1 along with some flagship phones like HTC 10, Huawei P9, etc were launched. But what about this month? Which phones are expected to be launched globally? How many of them are going to hit the stores? Which phones are coming to India this month? What May 2016 is holding for us? Let’s, take a look at some of the Best Upcoming Smartphones in May 2016.
1. Moto G4 and Moto X (2016):
Motorola yesterday announced an event, which is scheduled on May 17. Although the company hasn’t revealed what it is for, we expect the company could launch the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus. And if we are lucky we could also see the launch of Moto X (2016) at the same event.
As per the rumors, the Moto G4 and G4 Plus will have a 5 inch screen and 5.5 inches screen along with fingerprint sensor integrated into physical home button, respectively. The G4 may sport a 13MP rear camera, while the G4 Plus may have a 16MP rear camera. Both the smartphone could bear 16GB of internal storage. The Moto G4 is expected to be priced at Rs. 14,999, the price at which Motorola has launched all the previous Moto G phones till now.
As far as the Moto X (2016) is concerned, the rumors says it could sport a Snapdragon 820 SoC with 4 GB RAM and may run on Android 6.0.1. However, there is no pricing detail about this smartphone yet.
2. Zuk Z1:
Lenovo owned Zuk could also debut in India and launch the Zuk Z1 this month. Although no specific date is revealed by the company, looking at its aggressive marketing, it could get launched in first week only. The Zuk Z1 features a 5.5-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 64GB storage, 13MP camera, 5MP front shooter, and a 4100mAh battery. It could also sport a fingerprint scanner and a USB Type-C port.
The Zuk Z1 is expected to be priced around Rs. 18,000.
3. Xiaomi Mi Max:
Xiaomi will launch a new phablet on May 10 in China, dubbed as Mi Max. The company has also announced the launch of new MIUI 8 which is probably based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, along with the Mi Band 2 at the same event.
The leaks and rumors we have gathered till now suggest that it could have a huge 6.4-inch Full HD IPS display and will be powered by a Hexa-Core Snapdragon 650 processor. It may be launched in two variants, one with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage and other with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage. It will run on latest MIUI 8.
The phablet is also expected to have 16 MP rear camera, 5 MP front camera, fingerprint sensor and 5000mAh battery. There are no details about its pricing yet.
4. Huawei Honor V8:
Huawei is also planning an event on May 10 for the launch of its upcoming smartphone, Huawei Honor V8. According to rumors, it may get launched in three variants and the higher variant will have Octa-Core Kirin 955 processor and 64 GB storage, whereas the other two variants will have options with 32/64 GB storage and Octa-Core Kirin 950 processor.
The Honor V8 may have a 5.7-inch Quad HD 2.5D curved glass display, 4 GB RAM and Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It could also have a 12 megapixel dual rear cameras with dual-tone LED flash, and Laser AF. It may also sport 8 megapixel front-facing camera, a fingerprint sensor and an Infrared sensor. It is said to be backed by a 3,400mAh battery with fast charging and also includes USB Type-c port.
5. Meizu M3 Note:
Earlier this month, Meizu launched the M3 Note in China, and now the company is all set to launch the smartphone on May 11 in India too. The Meizu M3 note features a 5.5-inch Full HD LTPS 2.5D curved glass display, a 1.8 GHz Octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 processor, 13 MP rear camera, 5MP front camera, a Fingerprint sensor and a 4100mAh battery.
The Meizu M3 Note will offered in two variants, the 2GB RAM and 16 GB storage variant may cost Rs. 8,200), whereas the 3GB RAM and 32 GB variant may be priced around Rs. 10,200.
[alert]Update [03 May 2016]: The launch of LeEco Le 2, Le 2 Pro and Le Max 2 was widely expected in India but instead, the company has launched an updated variant of the Le 1s named as LeEco Le 1s (Eco).[/alert]
6. LeEco Le 2, Le 2 Pro and Le Max 2:
LeEco has already launched the Le 2, Le 2 Pro and Le Max 2 in China few days ago, and now these smartphones could be launched in India, as the company has scheduled an event for May 3. Another reason to believe the launch will take place is because the company has recently renewed its exclusive partnership with Flipkart.
The highlight of these smartphone is that they have become the first to skip the 3.5mm jack and introduce a new Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) audio standard through USB Type-C port. Other specs which they share are 8 megapixel front-facing camera, fingerprint sensor and run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow based EUI 5.5.
The LeEco Le 2 and Le 2 Pro both feature a 5.5 inch Full HD IPS display, 32 GB storage and 3000mAh battery. The Le 2 has MediaTek Helio X20 deca-core processor with 3 GB RAM and a 16MP rear camera, whereas the Le 2 Pro houses a MediaTek Helio X25 deca-core processor with 4GB RAM and 21MP camera. The former is expected to be priced around Rs. 11,000, while latter may cost Rs. 15,000.
Moving on to the flagship phone, the Le Max 2 comes with a 5.7-inch Quad HD display, 2.15 GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 processor, 21MP rear camera, 3100mAh battery with fast charging and Qualcomm Sense ID Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. It will be offered in two variants, the 4GB RAM and 32 GB storage variant may cost around Rs. 21,000, while the 6GB RAM and 64 GB storage version will be priced around Rs. 25,000.
[signoff]Also expected:
There are also few more smartphones which could get launched Globally or in India in May, but we haven’t included them due to uncertainty of their launch date. These include the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) and J7 (2016), Galaxy C5 and C7, OnePlus 3 and LG G5.[/signoff]