The cheapest 5G rugged smartphone could cost less than you think

Realme V3 smartphone - $174.32 from AliExpress (£138.55/AU$241.77) While you're waiting for the Armor 8 to drop, check out this...

Realme V3 smartphone - $174.32 from AliExpress
(£138.55/AU$241.77)
While you're waiting for the Armor 8 to drop, check out this model from Realme. It has a 5000mAh battery, 6.5-inch HD+ screen and 5G connectivity.View Deal

A spokesperson for rugged smartphone vendor Ulefone has told us the company will unveil two rugged smartphones before the end of the year, ahead of the launch of Blackview’s 5G-enabled BV10000.

Set to arrive in November, the Ulefone Armor 8 will sit between the Armor 7 and the Armor 9, both of which are already available.

Mediatek’s Dimensity 800 system-on-chip will power the device, which will also come with 8GB of memory and 256GB onboard storage. The price, we’ve been told, will be around $600, which makes sense for a flagship rugged smartphone.

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Other features include a 6.1-inch display, three rear camera sensors with a top pixel count of 64-megapixels, a 5080mAh battery and Android 10.

A further email exchange with Ulefone, however, also revealed the company is preparing a second 5G handset that will retail for around $300.

While no exact specifications have been revealed, we assume it will come with the cheaper Dimensity 720 processor, less memory and storage capacity, as well as inferior photo capabilities.

Ulefone had plans to launch a 5G phone in 2018, but the product - known as the Armor 6 5G - never saw the light of day because Mediatek cancelled the M70 chip that was supposed to power it.

At the time of writing, the cheapest 5G smartphone on the market is the Realme V3 5G, which can be had for less than $180, with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage.

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