BLU Pure XL is an underdog flagship with a MediaTek Helio X10 bite

Slowly China is emerging as the smartphone production capital of the world, with more and more brands impressing the world’s consumers with exciting products. But this doesn’t mean America no longer has a say.

While Huawei and OnePlus make headlines on a fortnightly basis, Floridian company BLU is known for launching fairly adequate but cheap devices. The latest in its arsenal? The BLU Pure XL.

It sounds like every other smartphone out there, but it has the guts (at least on paper) and stare (at least in press renders) to impress any mobile aficionado.

There’s a 6.0-inch 2560×1440 screen baked into the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 face, while at the rear, there’s a 24MP camera (with an 8MP selfie camera) and fingerprint sensor below it. The camera can record in 4K and boasts a Sony Xperia Z5-like aperture of f/2.3, so it’s playing with the big boys here.

Internally, we find MediaTek‘s much hyped octa-core Helio X10 chipset, with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. And to round it all off, a generous 3500mAh battery. It’s an impressive rap sheet.

But most impressive of all is its price — just US$349.

We probably won’t see the device reach South Africa, but for those in the States, the device should go on sale on Amazon within the next few weeks and begin shipping 29 September.