South African-made Mara Phones have received their local pricing information. The phones, which will be bolted together at a Durban-based factory, will be offered to those looking for budget smartphones running vanilla Android.
His Excellency President @CyrilRamaphosa inaugurates the official launch of Mara Phones manufacturing plant in Durban, Kwazulu-natal, South Africa
#MadeinSouthAfrica #MadeinAfrica #MaraPhonesSA #ProudlySA pic.twitter.com/JTDkCxHuFj No ad to show here.
— Mara Phones (@MaraPhones) October 17, 2019
The two devices, named the Mara X and Mara Z, don’t feature specs you’ll see on current flagship players from Korea, the US or China, but they do focus on the essentials and little more.
Mara Phones X
The Mara X is the more modest of the two, featuring a 5.5-inch LCD with 1440×720 resolution. It’s powered by a Mediatek MT6739 with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
It has a microSD card slot too, as well as support for 4G and a 3500mAh battery.
The Mara X also has a fingerprint sensor, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 4.2 and WiFi 802.11 n support.
A 5MP front camera is supported by a 13MP rear camera. The whole package is powered by Android 9.0 Pie Go Edition.
Mara Phones Z
The Mara Z, meanwhile, features a larger 5.7-inch 1440×720 LCD, but it’s paired with a Snapdragon 435.
There’s 3GB of RAM to go with 32GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot.
Both front and back cameras feature 13MP sensors, while the package is powered by a 3075mAh battery.
A rear fingerprint reader also features, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 4.2 and WiFi 5 support.
The Mara Z also gets Android 9.0 Pie out of the box. It’s also part of the Android One programme, which promises OS updates for at least two years.
Both devices will be offered in black, gold and silver. Each feature dual and single SIM options, too.
Pricing
The Mara X will be priced at R2999. The Mara Z can be had for R3999.
Both are decidedly expensive when compared to phones of similar specification levels. Or if all you looking for is a phone to run WhatsApp. But, I guess what it really comes down to is owning a smartphone that was put together in South Africa.
Compare the two devices in more detail here.
Feature image: The Mara Z, by Mara Phones
