Lenovo Legion gaming phone: Release date, rumours, specs and leaks
Gaming phones continue to be on the rise, with Lenovo expected to unveil its Legion gaming phone - that's the working title for now - on 22 July 2020.
The company has been teasing the device piece by piece in China for some time, but has now teased some features in more detail, along with a pre-order price from a Chinese retailer. Here's what we know so far.
Release date and price
- 22 July 2020, 19:30 (CST) / 12:30 (BST) / 13:30 (CEST)
- Price: ￥9999 (£1135/€1250/$1430)
Lenovo originally posted to Weibo - the Chinese social site - an official communication for the launch date, saying "July". It has subsequently gone on to confirm that the announcement for the Legion phone will take place on 22 July at 19:30 CST (that's 12:30 BST / 13:30 CEST).
As this is a Lenovo phone we don't expect to see it outside of China (and perhaps some limited other territories in Asia). So expect the promotional materials to be very weighted towards that audience, not the West.
Price-wise it was all lips sealed until a Chinese retailer revealed the expected asking price of ￥9999 - which is £1135/€1250/$1430 in equivalent terms. Not that, as we say, you're likely to have an opportunity to own this phone.
Design
- Illuminating "Y" Legion logo to rear
- Additional controller accessories
- Side-mounted pop-up camera
- In-screen fingerprint scanner
For us one of the most interesting things about this device is the full visualisation of accessories. That's what makes it a gaming phone for all manner of titles after all. As you can see in the lead image up top - there's a clip-on case that looks to provide left and right controllers, complete with buttons, joysticks and illumination.
The phone itself, however, looks very gamer-focused. It's large, has gaming laptop-style chiselled features, a Legion "Y" logo to the rear that looks as though it lights up. It's a gaming phone through and through.
There's a real emphasis on the using it in landscape, including what looks like a pop-up selfie camera on the side of the phone, rather than it being at the top.
Display
- 6.67-inch OLED panel
- 144Hz refresh rate
- 270ms response
When it comes to gaming phones fast refresh rate is king. And the Legion phone is said to have a 144Hz refresh rate, matching the likes of the Red Magic 5G, as further confirmed in the Jingdong video pre-order release. That ekes just beyond the current swathe of 90-120Hz panels that are entering the market. It's what gamers expect.
There's an expectation that the panel used will be a 6.67-inch OLED, giving large scale and those rich blacks and colours. No word on the resolution just yet, though, and whether that will be ultra-high or a more middle-high density for the sake of battery life - after all, not many games run at extreme resolutions.
Cameras
- Side-positioned pop-up selfie camera
- Dual rear cameras: 64MP & 16MP
Rather than going overboard with four or five rear cameras, the Legion gaming phone sticks to two on the rear: thought to be a 64MP main unit (which, no doubt, will use four pixels in one for 16MP default output), alongside a 16MP second - which we would think is a wide-angle unit.
But what's really out-there was revealed in the second phase of leaks: yep, a pop-up selfie camera positioned on the side of the phone (see picture above).
Why would you want that? So when you're holding the handset with both hands, mid-game, you can chat face-to-face with your gaming buddies. Likely useful for picture-in-picture streaming - which isn't really a thing on mobile yet (but this Legion could be the device to change it).
Hardware and specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus confirmed
- 3D cooling tower structure
- Dual heat pipe partitions
- 5,000mAh battery
- 90W fast-charge
We've long been told that this device will feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 chipset, but it's now been confirmed that it's actually going to be powered by the latest Snapdragon 865 Plus. That will make it one of the most powerful phones out there, along with the Asus ROG Phone 3 - which is due to launch at a similar time.
When gaming, you could be asking a lot of the processor which can cause a lot of heat. That's why the Legion gaming phone is said to have a "cooling tower" internal structure with "dual heat pipe partitions" to lure heat away from the processor, disperse it, cool it best as possible, and allow for top-end speeds to be maintained.
It could also be paired with 16GB of RAM.
Elsewhere, expect a large battery capacity (5,000mAh rumoured) with fast-charging at 90W - which is faster than originally predicted, but confirmed in the pre-order video. That could even be powerful enough to keep the phone charging during gaming sessions, thanks to its two USB-C connections.
Lenovo Legion phone rumours: What's happened so far?
15 July 2020: Pre-order price and video goes live
Jingdong confirms ￥9999 price, 90W fast-charging, 144Hz screen, SD865 Plus and more.
8 July 2020: Lenovo confirms Legion phone launch event
Lenovo has confirmed that the Legion phone will be announced in China in 22 July.
8 July 2020: Qualcomm intros the Snapdragon 865 Plus for faster gaming performance on high-end phones
Qualcomm has announced new hardware - the Snapdragon 865 Plus - offering more power for more smartphone experiences. This is thought to be in the Lenovo Legion phone.
5 May 2020: Lenovo Legion gaming phone to feature crazy fast 90W charging and side pop-up selfie camera?
Leaked promotional images for the Legion gaming phone reveal an outlandish design and some other details.
18 March 2020: Weibo leak reveals Legion phone with all its accessories
Showing off the phone plus all its accessories, the first image made the Legion gaming phone a more concrete prospect.
25 February 2020: Qualcomm confirms devices on Snapdragon 865, including unannounced ZenFone 7, ROG Phone 3, Legion Gaming Phone
Qualcomm has confirmed a slew of phones that will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, including name-dropping the new Lenovo Legion gaming phone.
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