Vernee is another smartphone maker from across the Pacific trying to make waves by boasting super high-end specs to woo customers.
The Chinese company has three devices lined up for its launch: Thor, Apollo and one other device seemingly purposefully labeled as "New Product" on the company's website.
By the numbers, what looks to be Vernee's flagship, the Apollo, packs in quite a punch. On its website, Vernee tags the Apollo as (copied in verbatim) "one small step for smart phone, a giant leap for vernee."
The Apollo packs a powerful deca-core processor with 6 GB of RAM that powers a 5.5-inch 2K display. Other specs include a 21-megapixel Sony IMX230 rear camera, an 8-megapixel front camera and 128 GB of storage. The device is encased in an all-metal frame and is charged via USB Type C.
Impressive specifications, yes, but with an unknown brand like "vernee," which appears to be another budget phone maker, specs that sound good on paper don't always add up to something the rest of us might want to buy. If there is a sort of name brand that can be attached to Vernee's Apollo, it's Mediatek.
The Apollo is set to be the first smartphone equipped with Mediatek's next generation Helio X20 chipset. Again, by the numbers, even the Helio X20 outperforms the current top-of-the-line Snapdragon 820, which powers name-brand flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge and LG's modular G5.
But all that power may have initially come at a cost as the Helio X20 reportedly suffers from the same heating problems that plagued the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor. And just like Qualcomm lost Samsung as a customer for its Galaxy S6, reports have said that other Chinese phone makers such as Xiaomi, Lenovo and HTC have skipped on the X20.
Maybe Mediatek found a way to keep its chipset cool enough, or Vernee found a solution to keep the Apollo from burning a user's hands. But beyond being the first device to be equipped with the Helio X20, Vernee's Apollo may also be the first Android phone to boast a "Force Touch" screen similar to Apple's 3D Touch on its iPhones.
The Apollo is set to launch sometime in April, so we'll find out then if the device lives up to what it claims to be.
