Humongous 1TB storage! World’s 1st smartphone with such massive capacity is here

Smartisan R1 is a dual SIM smartphone that runs on the company’s custom skin called Smartisan OS 6.66

While there are several Chinese mobile companies that sprung up recently in the Indian market with their products that offer more at fewer price points, there are many companies that are operating in the home market but are still not very popular. Smartisan is a mobile phone maker from China, whose name you wouldn’t have probably ever heard of, but the company’s latest smartphone is not a run-of-the-mill product that can be easily passed.

The smartphone in question is the Smartisan R1 that although does not have a very peculiar design or look, its specifications cannot be ignored. The Smartisan R1 is the world’s first smartphone that comes with a whopping 1TB of onboard storage, which can double up as a mobile computer. The company has announced the smartphone in China today alongside a workstation, similar to Samsung Dex, that connects to R1 via the dock.

The Smartisan R1 is a dual SIM smartphone that runs on the company’s custom skin called Smartisan OS 6.66 based on Android. It is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor paired with 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The storage options are 64GB, 128GB, and humongous 1TB, which is the USP of the smartphone. The smartphone has a 6.17-inch ‘pressure-sensitive’ display with 18.7:9 aspect ratio and a notch on the top. It is shielded by the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on top.

Talking about the elephant in the room, the 1TB storage is a first in any of the phones made to date. But, what exactly is the purpose of having 1TB storage on a phone? Smartisan believes it can offer the users computing power with the help of a docking workstation that will harness the storage and platform of the smartphone. The Smartisan ‘Touch and Talk’ (TNT) workstation comes with a 27-inch multi-touch 4K display and docks the Smartisan R1 smartphone to convert to a PC with the phone’s modified OS, which looks identical to macOS.

Other specifications of the Smartisan R1 include a dual camera setup at the back consisting of a 20-megapixel sensor and a 12-megapixel sensor aided by 4-axis Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS). On the front, the Smartisan R1 has a 24-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture, located in the notch of the display. The handset comes with a 3600mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 4+ with the bundled charger that supports the same tech.

As for the pricing, the Smartisan R1 comes in four tiers – 6GB RAM + 64GB costing $549 (roughly Rs 37,000), 6GB RAM + 128GB priced at $627 (roughly Rs 42,700), 8GB RAM + 128GB costing $705 (roughly Rs 48,000), and the top model with 8GB RAM and 1TB priced at $1,388 (roughly Rs 94,400). The smartphone comes in Pure White and Carbon Black colour options.