bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Xinmei Shen

This article originally appeared on ABACUS
In a sea of identical-looking smartphones, imagine a new device. A wearable smartphone, with a long, flexible display that wraps around your wrist, lets you use real apps, make phone calls, and even take selfies.
And this is no dream, it’s real: ZTE’s sub-brand Nubia showed off this very device at the consumer electronics show IFA.
Sound good? You may want to take a look at it first.

The prototype, named Nubia Alpha (Nubia-α) seemed to work just fine… but it’s not really the functionality that’s the problem here, right?
Whether you want to call it a wearable smartphone or a huge smartwatch, it’s big and bulky. There’s a wide band that wraps around the display and a thick body that stores the camera and other components.
Chinese netizens are not impressed by its look. “It looks like a menstrual pad,” Weibo users say.

The company hasn’t made the specs public at the show or online, and it was apparently kept behind glass at the show. But even though they didn’t let people touch the prototype, Nubia claims that it will go on sale in China by the end of this year.
Launched in 2012 by ZTE, Nubia was aimed at reaching the high-end market with the ability to take great photos. It came in the spotlight in 2014 after China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan was spotted using a Nubia phone to take pictures at a football match.
ZTE spun Nubia off as a separate company -- but still retains the majority of shares, with founder Li Qiang saying “Nubia is part of the big ZTE family.”
The company pledged to join Apple and Samsung in the global top five -- but has fallen far short of that goal. In the last quarter of 2017, ZTE, including Nubia, only shipped 9.4 million smartphones. The world’s current 5th biggest smartphone vendor, Oppo, shipped 30.7 million.
It hasn’t given up though: Yesterday Nubia launched its new “AI flagship” Z18, which used the “water droplet” notch, a new trend that’s forming among Chinese smartphone makers that don’t have 3D facial recognition for a smaller notch.
The Z18 costs US$412 with mid-end specs (it runs the Snapdragon 845 chipset with 6GB to 8GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage), but boasts AI capabilities in photos and voice recognition.
Vivo X23 might feature a “water droplet” notch

For more insights into China tech, sign up for our tech newsletters, subscribe to our Inside China Tech podcast, and download the comprehensive 2019 China Internet Report. Also roam China Tech City, an award-winning interactive digital map at our sister site Abacus.



Chinese AR glasses maker Rokid prepares for global launch on AliExpress during 618 event

Apple aims to launch smart glasses in 2026 in push into AI devices to rival Meta, OpenAI

Facebook owner Meta lays off more than 100 employees in Reality Labs

Meta’s upcoming smart glasses with a screen to retail for US$1,000-US$1,400, insiders say

Wearables

“It looks like a menstrual pad”: Netizens slam ZTE’s wearable smartphone

Weibo users have not been kinda to the Nubia Alpha, but... can you blame them? (Picture: Nubia)

Abacus

Tech

Big Tech

Is it a wearable smartphone or a really huge smartwatch?


Of course, not all new ideas are necessarily good ideas. ZTE's sub-brand Nubia had what sounds like a neat one: A wearable smartphone, with a long, thin, flexible display that you can either wrap around your wrist as a watch or take out to use as a proper phone. It sounds neat... until you look at it.


Abacus - China Tech News