Chinese device maker ZTE plans to ship one of the first smartphones featuring an NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor. We already knew that. What we didn’t know was that the handset would be cheaper than a Google Nexus 4.

The ZTE GEEK U988S is expected to launch in China soon, where it will sell for about $320.

ZTE Geek U988S

That’s the price for an unsubsidized phone, which means that if and when ZTE brings the handset to the US, it’ll probably cost even less (up front) when you sign up for a long-term service contract.

ZTE’s phone is expected to have a 5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display, 2GB of RAM, Dolby Digital Audio, and a 13MP camera. It runs Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean. It’s a GSM/TD-CDMA phone, which means this particularly model is probably only going to be available in China. But ZTE is working hard to break into international markets, and we may eventually see variations of the phone in other areas.

The rear panel is removable, allowing you to swap out the 2300mAh, 8.8Whr battery, SIM card, and microSD card.

NVIDIA’s Tegra 4 chip is a 1.8 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 processor, and it’s one of the fastest ARM-based processors available today. It’s the same chip used in the NVIDIA Shield handheld game console and the Toshiba Excite Pro tablet. The ZTE Geek U988S is expected to be one of the first phones to use the processor.

You can find more photos of the upcoming phone at cnmo.

via Geeky Gadgets

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8 replies on “ZTE U988S smartphone to pack Tegra 4 chip, $320 price tag (in China)”

  1. I want this to be a good phone but unfortunately my friend has had zte phones and they have been terrible…. hoping Google comes out with a new nexus 4 I need the qualcomm lte chip, pentaband antennas, replaceable battery and micro SD…

      1. well at this point I’d just settle for a replaceable battery if i am spending $300 on a phone it has to not be disposable.

    1. Nobody has experienced those issues. They were speculations from before the first Tegra 4 came out

    2. i’m not sure if the power consumption problem are limited to nvidia tegra 4. it could be problem with A15 itself. remember that the talk about Exynos 5 having trouble with power consumption? ARM claimed A15 can be clocked up to 2.5Ghz but so far the fastest A15 that i know of is T4 that running at 1.9Ghz. Exynos 5410 was clocked at 1.6Ghz. maybe samsung make it so so the power consumption don’t go out of control for their smart phones

    3. No issues, i think you’re thinking the toshiba tablet, which was poorly made. HP’s running the same T4 @ 1.8Ghz, and no reports of overheating. Shield itself runs pretty cool

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