Letv Le Max Pro: World's first phone with a Snapdragon 820 chipset

Just a few years ago, we might have scoffed at the idea of buying a smartphone from a Chinese OEM. Now, with companies like Huawei and ZTE showing us that smartphone pedigree matters less than ambition and execution, things are totally different. That's exactly the opening China's LeTV is trying to capitalize on with its new Le Max Pro.

At the ongoing CES 2016 press event, Qualcomm shared an interesting bit of news regarding its next-gen Snapdragon 820 SoC. While there were rumors that the chipset will be exclusive to Samsung’s Galaxy S7 till April, Qualcomm chief executive Steven Mollenkopf announced that China’s Letv Le Max Pro will be the first handset to be powered by the Snapdragon 820 chipset.
Not only is the world's first phone to run Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipset, it's also the company's first attempt to break into the absolutely insane US market.

Apart from the Snapdragon 820, the Le Max Pro will also pack features such as Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sense ID ultrasonic fingerprint technology that's claimed to be more secure than capacitive sensors. The chipset will also boast next-gen Wi-Fi 802.11ad connectivity option. Unfortunately, LeTV hasn't confirmed all the specifications of the Le Max Pro and we will have to wait for the unveiling of the handset.LeTV is expected to start selling the Le Max Pro in the first half of 2016.

To recap, the Snapdragon 820 marks a major departure from the current generation of mobile chipsets. It features custom-designed 2.2GHz quad-core Kryo processor paired with a powerful, yet energy efficient Adreno 530 GPU, the company claims. Other features include LTE Cat.12 and tri-band Wi-Fi connectivity, and Quick Charge 3.0.