The launch of the oft-rumoured Amazon smartphone looks set to finally take place this year. Rumours of a 2014 launch first surfaced last December and resurfaced last week when some details about Project Aria (not to be confused with Project Ara) emerged. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has now waded into the discussion. With a history of accurate predictions (along with some misses), Kuo now expects Amazon to “launch its own brand smartphone in 3-6 months.”
As past rumours have suggested, the Amazon smartphone will come with six cameras. Along with the typical rear-facing and front-facing cameras will be four cameras that will be used for “gesture control, allowing users to operate the smartphone without touching the touch panel.” Needless to say, this will be they “key feature of the smartphone.”
Kuo also expects that the Amazon smartphone will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, a 4.7-inch display, a 13MP camera supplied by Sony, secondary cameras supplied by Primax and a battery with a capacity of between 2,000 and 2,400mAh.
Kuo expects Amazon to use the “same hardware strategy as used for its e-reader and tablet.” It will likely also feature tight integration with Amazon services, much as current hardware does.
Shipments are expected to kick off sometime in Q2 2014 with initial volumes forecast at between 300 and 600,000 units. That should ramp up later on to reach 2 to 3 million units by the end of the year.
Kuo concludes with positive expectations for the Amazon smartphone: “While Amazon’s smartphone is at the experimental stage, we think its hardware features and business model may have the potential to garner a positive market reaction, fueling robust sales growth.”
It’s not clear whether Amazon will also release a rumoured cheaper model, possibly known as Project Aria, at the same time.
Source : BGR