[General Topics] spartanm99:
Hi everyone

I'm new to the mobile phone scene but after a bit of research on deciding which phones to invest in I've noticed something; Chinese phones (not easily available in Western countries) have better specs and prices compared with the phones we have from brands like Samsung, Apple, HTC, Sony etc.

I'm talking about Vivo phones, Xiaomi etc. These phones routinely have 16mp cameras with OIS, large 2.0 (or even bigger) sensors, full HD or QHD 5 to 6" screens, 2 to 3GB of RAM, very large front facing cameras (5 to 8mp with flash, 1080P recording), Snapdragon 805 chips and batteries 3500mh+. All this in bodies thinner than 7mm (in some cases, the low5mm range). Many have aluminium chassis too.

Im wondering why we still see phones from Samsung, HTC, Apple and even the Nexus 6 (which is supposed to be absolutely premium in specs & quality) selling for such high prices but with specs lower than the Chinese phones. Surly Samsung & these other brands can release a phone, keep their prices the same but match or exceed the specs of these Chinese phones.

Why does the Galaxy S5 have a comparably low front facing camera, smaller battery and is thicker than these Chinese phones? Or the Nexus 6 - why is the FF camera smaller, why is the rear camera smaller, why does it have a smaller battery and why is it so much thicker? Surly these phones could match the specs of the Chinese phones.

Example: The upcoming VIVO PD1305 rumoured specs (below) should best (or at least match) the Nexus 6 in every respect. Thinner, same chipset, same amount of RAM, better front and rear cameras, stereo speakers, NFC, larger battery etc. Why couldn't Google have these specs in the Nexus 6 and sell it at the current price? The VIVO is expected to be cheaper by $100+. The specs are leaked; previous VIVO leaked specs matched very closely to the final product and there is strong evidence to support that this new VIVO phone's specs will match to the leaked specs as all the technology has been around for a short while now.

Basically what I'm trying to establish is why the Western market is so full of overpriced phones which can't complete on every front with cheaper Chinese phones? Will Samsung etc actually match or best these Chinese phones in terms of specs?

Specs:

6-inch IPS display with 2560×1440 resolution and 490ppi

5.68mm (0.22") thin

162g (5.71 ounces) weight

Snapdragon 805 processor with 3GB of RAM

32GB of internal storage with a microSD card slot that goes up to 128GB

13MP rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) and dual-LED flash, 8MP front camera with 88-degree wide view lens

Dedicated ES9018 and OPA2604 audio chips

NFC

LTE Radio support (confirmed at some sources; still in debate as it is useless in China)

Wireless charging

Basic water resistance

Heart rate monitor and a fingerprint trace the source function

3500mAh battery

NOTE: Before anyone says it - that most Chinese phones don't support LTE networks - from some reading there is talk that the latest and upcoming Chinese manufacturers are including support for LTE networks as their market expands. So, they are covering ground fast and innovating far faster than any of the phones we see in our Western markets.

In my opinion the specs for the latest Chinese phones (especially for the VIVO listed) put the Nexus 6 and its rivals to shame. A bit sad.