Unreleased Oppo A35 passes through TENAA certification, features octa-core chip, 5-inch screen, metal body, more

With Samsung having launched its Galaxy A-series phones for 2016 and BLU launching the first sub-$100 1080p smartphone at the end of this year, it looks as though the trend of releasing premium-looking smartphones at affordable prices is set to continue in to 2016. One company known for releasing great, affordable smartphones is Oppo, and the Chinese smartphone manufacturer is about to launch its next small, powerful and budget-friendly smartphone…

The Oppo A35 has passed through TENAA certification, and looks like it will compete directly with the likes of the Moto G and 4.7-inch Idol 3. The Chinese manufacturer’s upcoming smartphone features a 5-inch 720p display built in to a premium-looking body, which looks very similar to the Oppo R7 range. It bears a striking resemblance to the recently launched Oppo R7s. The gold, metal back with curved edges is immediately recognizable as part of the Oppo smartphone family. Like a couple of the company’s smartphones, the A35 will feature a row of capacitive buttons beneath the 5-inch display.

From the images submitted, it looks as though Oppo’s next budget smartphone will have a rear facing loudspeaker, placed behind three pill-shaped speaker holes. The 13MP rear camera sits in a square-ish cutout straddling the main metal housing and the plastic panel on the top edge. Other specs include an octa-core 1.5GHz processor paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB of in-built storage, with the option to expand up to 128GB via MicroSD card. It will also have dual-SIM support. Sadly, it looks to be launching with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop rather than Marshmallow.

With the device showing up on TENAA, it’s pretty much confirmed that it’ll launch in China at some point in the coming weeks. Whether or not it’ll land on the international scene isn’t known. So far, Oppo only sells a handful of its smartphones in the US through the OppoStyle online store. Having seen the success of Huawei over the past 12 months, Oppo will undoubtedly be looking to ride the wave of growing Chinese manufacturer dominance. Whether it can establish itself as a well-known brand is yet to be seen, but releasing great, affordable smartphones will only help its cause.