Lenovo Zuk Z1 International Version With Cyanogen OS 12.1 Due in October

Lenovo's Zuk Z1 smartphone, which debuted in China earlier this month, would be running the Cyanogen OS 12.1 for its international variant. The smartphone in China was launched with the firm's own ZIUI skin running atop Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out-of-the-box.

"Cyanogen is excited to be the OS for ZUK's Z1 international version!" posted the firm on its Google+ post on Friday. It also gave the launch month of the international version of the Z1. "Be on the lookout for the Z1 in mid-October!" Zuk Z1, as per the post, is said to have become an 'instant success' in China as over 2 million users have already pre-ordered the smartphone within one week.

The partnership marks the third major partnership for Cyanogen's commercial OS offering, after OnePlus and Micromax. Cyanogen however broke off its partnership earlier this year, after exclusivity issues in India following the OnePlus One's launch late last year. OnePlus has since shifted to its own Android-based custom ROM, OxygenOS, currently available for the OnePlus One and OnePlus 2.

Besides the change in the software front, the international Zuk Z1 version is expected to come with similar hardware specifications like seen in its China version.

To recall, the Zuk Z1 features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display and sports a physical home button on the front panel. Notably, the home button on the Z1 smartphone also embeds the fingerprint scanner. Much like recently launched flagship smartphones, Lenovo's Zuk Z1 features the USB Type-C 3.0 port. Under the hood, the new smartphone packs a dated Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked at 2.5GHZ coupled with 3GB of RAM and Adreno 330 GPU. The handset supports dual Nano-SIM cards and packs 64GB of inbuilt storage.

The smartphone sports a 13-megapixel rear camera with Sony sensor (IMX214) and optical image stabilization (OIS), another feature that's found in high-end smartphones. There is an 8-megapixel front-facing camera also on board. It packs a large 4100mAh battery and will be available in White and Grey colours. The Zuk Z1 smartphone measures 155.7x77.3x8.9mm and weighs 175 grams. The model launched in China supports both 4G LTE bands in India (FDD-LTE Band 3 1800MHz and TDD-LTE Band 40 2300MHz).

The firm also showcased a smartphone prototype, the highlight of which is a transparent display. the prototype smartphone is seen featuring a near bezel-less frame on the transparent glass-like display.