L-R: The HTC 8X, the Huawei Ascend W1, and the Nokia 920.
An industry source in China, cited by Sohu IT and Marbridge Daily, says that six new Windows Phone 8 (WP8) smartphones are lauching in the country in December. The rollout will mark the debut of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) revamped mobile OS in China, a mere eight months after the initial WP7 found its way onto the local market.
Three phone-makers will be spear-heading the WP8 launch here: Nokia (HEL:NOK1V; NYSE:NOK), HTC (TPE:2498), and Huawei. These are the six colorful contenders that they have lined up:
- Nokia will unveil the China-bound, WP8-powered Lumia 920, Lumia 920T, and Lumia 820 at an event in Guangzhou on December 5th. The model with the ‘T’ suffix is destined for China Mobile, and supports the requisite TD-SCDMA protocol for 3G.
- HTC will do a local launch for the 8X and 8S the next day in Beijing. The source claims that the models will go to both China Unicom and China Telecom. The 8X is expected to cost just over 4,000 RMB (US$636).
- Huawei will show its Ascend W1 phone sometime in mid-December. It’s not known which telco’s 3G network it will support. With a lowly 480×800 pixels screen, it’ll be the cheapest of the bunch at just 2,500 RMB ($400).
In June of this year we heard that the uptake of WP7 in China has been fairly brisk, and that the country is already the second-biggest market in the world for WP devices – with the US out front.
[Source: Marbridge Daily]
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