Yota’s back with another dual-screen phone, but buying it will be a challenge

Why it matters to you

The Yota3 phone is different to every other phone on sale, but we should be wary of getting too excited, due to company struggles in the past.

Remember the headline-grabbing Yota phones, which stood out due to integrating both a regular touchscreen and an E Ink screen on the same device? The company is making a comeback with the Yota3, a new model set to go on sale later this year; but once again a wide international release seems unlikely. It’s the first we’ve heard of Yota since 2016, when a 30 percent stake in the Russian firm was acquired by Rex Global Entertainment Holdings, a Hong Kong-based entertainment company, under the name of China Baoli Innovation Technologies.

Should we be excited about the Yota3? If you liked the previous models, then probably, as the new model is more of the same, just a little bigger. The phone was revealed at a China-Russia Expo held in China in mid-June, but details from the event are slim. Apparently, we should expect a 5.5-inch AMOLED screen on the front, and a 5.2-inch E Ink screen on the back, according to specs published by Engadget.

A Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and 4GB of RAM is likely to power the phone, putting it squarely up against other mid-range Android phones such as the Motorola Moto Z Play, and the Huawei Nova. Two screens won’t stop the Yota3 from having two cameras. Expect a 12-megapixel camera on the back, and a 13-megapixel selfie cam on the front. Other specifications include a MicroSD card slot, Android 7.0 Nougat, and dual-SIM configuration.

Two versions are likely to be made, a $350 64GB model and a more expensive $450 model with 128GB of storage space. However, a Russian source say the Yota3 is only destined for release in China — where China Baoli have the sales rights — and in Russia around November this year. However, while Yota’s intentions are undoubtably good, the company has struggled recently, following a no-show manufacturing partnership with ZTE, various executives including the CEO leaving the firm, and a failed crowdfunding campaign to bring the YotaPhone 2 to the United States.

Whether the Yota3 actually goes on sale, and if anyone will want one if it does given the ageing specs, remains to be seen.