Gionee M2017 debuts in China with a massive 7000mAh battery

A luxury phone with a battery that rivals most tablets.

Gionee has carved out a niche for itself in China and India in the mid-range segment, but with its latest handset, the company has set its sights on the luxury market. The M2017 is made out of premium materials and is set to retail for ¥6,999 ($1,005).

The highlight of the M2017 is its battery capacity, with Gionee cobbling two 3500mAh batteries to create a 7000mAh monster. The phone supports Quick Charge 3.0, and Gionee claims that it'll offer 32 hours of talktime for calls and 26 hours of video playback on a full charge.

The rest of the specs aren't bad either. You get a 5.7-inch dual curved QHD AMOLED display, 6GB of RAM, 128GB storage, dual cameras (12MP + 13MP) at the back with 2x optical zoom and 8x digital zoom, 8MP front shooter, an encrypted call service for those on China Telecom, fingerprint sensor with support for WeChat and Alipay, and dual-SIM connectivity.

The only drawback is the processor of choice. Gionee went with the mid-range Snapdragon 653, which has four Cortex A72 cores clocked at 1.95GHz and four Cortex A53 cores at 1.44GHz. Considering the QHD screen and the rest of the hardware, it would've made more sense to offer the Snapdragon 821. There isn't a microSD card slot or 3.5mm jack either, so you'll have to resort to the USB-C port for wired audio.

The phone measures 155.2 x 77.6 x 10.78mm, and comes in at 238g. On the software front, the M2017 runs Amigo 3.5 UI atop Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Gionee will also sell a variant of the M2017 with "Italian custom alligator leather back" and 256GB storage that will retail for ¥16,999 ($2,445). As of now, it looks like this phone will be limited to China. Should that change in the future, we'll let you know.