Best Upcoming Smartphones of December 2016 – Expected Specs & Features

As we are getting close to the year end, the smartphone companies are getting ready to catch up with the upcoming holiday season. While most of the Global launches will take place at the upcoming CES 2017 and MWC 2017 scheduled in January and February respectively, in December, we will be seeing few smartphone launches in India and China. Next month, OnePlus 3T will be finally arriving in India, and few other devices that are already launched in China will make their way to the Indian market.
Below is the list of smartphones that are expected to launch in India and China in December 2016.

OnePlus has launched its latest smartphone, OnePlus 3T all over the world except India. Last week, the company has officially confirmed to launch its new smartphone here in India on December 2nd. While the design remains same as the OnePlus 3, internally the new device comes with a few upgrades. The Graphite color is now replaced with the Gunmetal. It sports the same 5.5-inch Full HD Optic AMOLED display on the front with Gorilla Glass 4 protection. The device is now powered by the latest Snapdragon 821 processor clocked at 2.35GHz.
There is 6GB of RAM and will be available in two storage options – 64GB and 128GB. The 16MP rear camera remains same as on its predecessor, but the front camera is bumped from 8MP to 16MP resolution. While the OnePlus 3 came with a 3,000mAh battery, the new OnePlus 3T sports slightly bigger 3,400mAh battery. However, the Dash Charge fast charging technology remains same on both the devices. We expect the 64GB storage variant of OnePlus 3T to cost 30,000 while the 128GB variant might come with Rs. 32,000 price tag.
Earlier this month, Vivo has officially launched the Vivo V5 smartphone in India for Rs. 17,980. At the launch event, the company also announced to launch the Vivo V5 Plus with dual front cameras soon in India. We guess the company to launch the X9 Plus in India as V5 Plus. While the Vivo V5 came with a 5.5-inch HD display, the V5 Plus will come with 5.88-inch Full HD display. It will be powered by the 1.95GHz Snapdragon 653 octa-core processor. In China, the device came with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The V5 Plus has a 16MP rear camera with LED flash.
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For selfies, it sports a 20MP + 8MP dual rear cameras whereas the Vivo V5 came with a single 20MP sensor. There are also dedicated audio chips for offering Hi-Fi audio output. With these high-end specifications, the device is backed by a 4,000mAh battery. It runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow based FunTouch 3.0 OS. The X9 Plus will go on sale in China on December 26th, and we hope to see the V5 Plus launch in India by the end of December. Till date, the Lenovo Vibe S1 priced at Rs. 15,999 is the only smartphone to launch in India with dual front cameras.
Meizu has officially confirmed to launch the M5 Note smartphone in China on December 6th. The recent leaks also suggest the company come up with a new device called M5 Note Metal. As the name suggest, the M5 Note Metal might come with a metal body while the M5 Note sports a polycarbonate body. Both the devices are expected to feature similar specifications and might run on the Flyme 6 OS that will be announced later today. The devices sport a 5.5-inch Full HD display and come powered by the latest Helio P20 octa-core processor.
There will be 2GB and 3GB RAM variants with 16GB and 32GB of internal storage respectively. In the camera department, there will be a 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera. The devices support dual SIM dual standby and offer 4G LTE connectivity. Once the device is launched in China, we also expect the company to bring them to the Indian market. Earlier this year, the company launched the Meizu M3 Note smartphone in India for Rs. 9,999. The new Meizu M5 Note and M5 Note Metal smartphones are rumored to priced around 1000 Yuan (approx Rs. 10,000) price range.
Huawei has launched the Honor 6X as Mate 9 Lite and GR5 2017 in few markets. Coming to India, it will be launched as Honor 6X since the company has already launched the Honor 5X. Just like its predecessor, the Honor 6X sports an all metal body. It sports a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display and is powered by the 2.1GHz Kirin 655 octa-core processor. We expect the company to launch the 3GB RAM variant with  32GB storage in India while in China, there is also a 4GB RAM variant with 64GB of built-in storage.
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The Honor 6X features a 12MP + 2MP dual camera setup on the rear and on the front is an 8MP selfie camera with wide-angle lens. The fingerprint sensor is placed on the rear of the device. It is backed by a 3,440mAh battery that is mentioned to give 23hours of talk time. It supports 4G VoLTE out of the box and offers other connectivity options. The device runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with the highly customized EMUI 4.1 skin on top. While the recently launched Mate 9 smartphone came with Android 7.0 Nougat based EMUI 5, we don’t expect the Honor 6X to be updated to EMUI 5 anytime soon.
Last year, Xiaomi launched the Mi 4i and Mi 4C as the affordable high-end smartphones in India and China respectively. Now in 2016, the company might launch only the Mi 5C smartphone. The leaks suggest the device to launch on December 6th in China. Compared to the glass body on Mi 5, the Mi 5C comes with an all metal body. It comes powered by 1.4GHz octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM. While the company is already testing Android 7.0 Nougat based MIUI update for Mi 5, the Mi 5C will be running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow based MIUI 8 out of the box.
It might come with a 5.2-inch display with Full HD resolution and 2.5D glass on top. The device will be equipped with 64GB of internal storage. With the presence of fingerprint sensor and NFC, the Mi 5C will support Mi Pay mobile payment service. Talking about the cameras, there will be a 12MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera. With the Mi 5C, Xiaomi might introduce its in-house PineCone processor. Just like Mi 4C, the Mi 5C will be launched exclusively for the Chinese market.
Lenovo India is teasing the launch of Moto M smartphone in India. We expect the device to officially launch in the next couples of weeks. Last month, the Moto M along with the Lenovo P2 was launched in China. The Moto M is the first smartphone in the Moto series to feature an all-metal body. It sports a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution. Under the hood, the Helio P15 octa-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz along with Mali T860 MP2 GPU. It packs 4GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage along with MicroSD card slot.
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While in China, the device came with Vibe UI based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. In India, we can expect the device to offer stock Android experience though this time there will be bloatware apps. It packs a 16MP rear camera with PDAF and an 8MP front camera for selfies. The device is backed by a 3,050mAh battery and supports fast charging with the 5V/2A power adapter. Connectivity options include 4G, VoLTE, Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, NFC, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, and USB Type-C 3.1 port.
In December last year, Samsung has exclusively launched the Galaxy C5 and Galaxy C7 smartphones in China. Now in December 2017, we will be seeing the new Galaxy C5 Pro (SM-C5010) and Galaxy C7 Pro (SM-C7010) smartphones. Both the devices are expected to be powered by the new 2.2GHz Snapdragon 626 octa-core processor coupled with Adreno 506 GPU and 4GB of RAM. While the Galaxy C5 Pro comes with a 5.2-inch Full HD AMOLED display, the Galax C7 Pro sports a slightly bigger 5.5-inch display with the same resolution.
The Antutu listing additionally revealed the device to feature 64GB of internal storage and 16MP front and rear cameras. We also guess the Galaxy C5 Pro to come with the similar camera sensors. Last month, the company has officially launched the Galaxy C9 Pro in China. It is the company’s first smartphone to feature 6GB of RAM. The device came with a large 6-inch AMOLED display and 4,000mAh battery. It sports the 16MP sensors on the front and back of the device. Just like Galaxy C9 Pro, the upcoming Galaxy C5 Pro and C7 Pro also sports fingerprint sensor and NFC to support Samsung pay.
ZUK, the online exclusive brand from Lenovo is teasing the launch of a new smartphone in China. Though there is no exact launch date, the company will be launching the ZUK Edge smartphone in the next few days. The official images confirmed that there will be no edge display or bezel-less design. It sports a 5.5-inch Full HD display with a 2.5D glass on top. Under the hood is the Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor coupled with Adreno 530 GPU. The device comes in two variants with 4GB and 6GB RAM along with different storage options.
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It might run on Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box with the ZUI 2.5 laid on top. In the camera department, there will be a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and an 8MP front camera for selfies. The device measures 142.9 x 74.5 x 7.68 mm and weigh 160 grams. We expect Lenovo to launch the ZUK Edge in India in early 2017. Unlike in China, the ZUK devices are launched with Vibe UI and has the pre-installed Google Launcher. The U-Touch home button on the front comes included with a fingerprint sensor and supports several gestures.

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