Huawei Australia has unveiled a 3G only Ascend P6 smartphone – billed as the world’s slimmest – but for reasons that are not entirely clear none of Australia’s three major carriers will be marketing it.
Instead it will be sold solely through the Dick Smith and JB HiFi chains at A$499, beginning on July 15. Huawei’s Australian sales manager, Minh Phan, said the company wanted to get the Ascend P6 to market as quickly as possible and was able to do so through retail channels.
The P6 is just 6.18mm thick, which compares with 7.9mm for Samsung’s Galaxy S4 or 7.6mm for the iPhone 5, and weighs 120g. It has a 4.7-inch display, a 1.5GHz quadcore processor and Android 4.2.2 (updated Jelly Bean) operating system.
There’s also an 8MP rear facing camera and a 5MP front-facing camera. The phone connects via Wi-Fi and 3G, but there’s no 4G which is now essential for most smartphone buyers paying over $400 for a Smartphone claims a Telstra Shops executive.