Budget Hisense smartphone leaks: what is it? [Update]

A few weeks back, we reported on the existence of the Hisense P9, being a rugged device that popped up on China’s TENAA regulatory body (think their version of Icasa). Now, TENAA has yielded another Hisense handset, but it’s certainly a budget device.

The new Hisense smartphone (model number: HLTE212T) packs a tall 1440×720 6-inch display, 3GB RAM, 32GB of expandable storage, rear fingerprint scanner, a 3000mAh battery and a non-descript 1.4Ghz quad-core processor (presumably all lightweight A53 cores).

Driving home the budget nature is the single 8MP camera on the back, while selfies are handled with a 5MP shooter.

Read more: 5 more great smartphones under R2000

We’ve asked Hisense about a local release and will update the article when we get a response.

Nevertheless, the phone looks like a solid R2000 and under handset, pitting it against the Xiaomi Redmi 4A, Nokia 3 and Huawei Y3 2017.

Update, 2:47pm, 14 February 2018: Hisense South Africa has confirmed the existence of the device, but only for the “China market”.

However, the representative told Gearburn that two Hisense phones were coming in March, in the form of the “Hisense Infinity F24 and Hisense Infinity E7”.

Featured image: TENAA