Hisense has announced the Rock Lite mid-range device will be available in South Africa from next month. It will sell for the recommended retail price of R2 499.
The smartphone was unveiled at the Hisense Aim High Event, which took place in Cape Town last night.
Hisense SA mobile sales executive Lee Moss says the company started selling mobile phones in SA in 2013 and sold 35 000 units that year. This year, the company hopes to reach 1.2 million units.
Mobile product manager Tony Shi says Hisense is aiming to have up to three million units sold in the country within the next three years.
The Rock Lite smartphone is a rugged device with a five-inch display, hybrid SIM, which allows for a dual SIM set-up or a microSD card, and a large 3 900mAh battery.
The company says it has also built in extra power-saving tech for the device, which will stretch the battery life of the device to two days' operation time, or 13 hours' video watching. Shi says the tech does this by automatically switching off apps and functions that are not in use.
The device is aimed at young, sporty people in need of a robust device. It is dust- and water-resistant, with IP67 certification. The smartphone can be submerged in depths of up to 1m for 30 minutes.
It will come in four colour variations: green, red, blue and grey.
Shi says Hisense will launch a more high-end device in October, the H10. It will feature a 20mp camera and will sell for R5 999. The most popular Hisense device in SA last year was the F20, he notes.
Rock Lite specifications:
Operating system: Android 7.0 Nougat
Display: 5-inch
RAM: 2GB
Storage: 16GB of on-board storage
Rear camera: 8MP
Front camera: 5MP
Battery: 3 900mAh
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