MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. Russia’s Yota Devices, the producer of double-screened smartphones, will present its third YotaPhone model to the market within 18 months, Izvestiya daily reported Friday, citing the company’s General Director Vladislav Martynov.
“We are actively developing YotaPhone 3. I can’t name the exact date of release…It may appear in a year, or in a year and a half,” Martynov told the daily.
A lifecycle of a smartphone model is about 12 months, and sometimes it shrinks to 10 months with everything depending on suppliers of components.
“There is no need to change the model every 12 months… Everything heavily depends on the price, functionality, applications and the like. Sometimes, it’s better to launch a new model earlier than later,” he said.
Yota Devices prepared some developments, including a virtual camera to ensure eye contact of interlocutors. “We have to assess how much a consumer is ready to pay for such an option…If the user is ready to pay an extra $3 or $5 and if the bulk of users, over 40%, will take advantage of the option, there is point in investing. If we don’t see such it, we’ll have to wait,” Martynov said.
The company is also considering a battery that will charge from light. The battery is presented by yellow film that could be stuck to the screen, but the quality of the image worsens.
“The question is whether users are ready to sacrifice the quality of image on the screen in order to charge the battery from the sun by 5-10%. Most likely not,” he said.
Another idea is to use the glass of the screens as sound speakers. “The question is how much the sound will improve and whether we are ready to pay an extra $10-$15…We have been actively working with this technology for the last two years,” Martynov said.
YotaPhone 2 was unveiled in February. Its main difference from the previous model is that its second screen is touch-sensitive, can send SMSs, respond to calls and perform other basic operations.
The new YotaPhone is equipped with two screens: a color 5-inch one to watch movies, photos, play games and surf the Internet, and a black-and-white 4.7-inch screen to look through notifications and read e-books.