Huawei announces the US variant of the sleek and affordable P8 lite - Snapdragon in place of Kirin

Back in April, Huawei unveiled its newest flagship – the P8 – convoyed by its phablet P8max counterpart, and quietly followed by a smaller, more affordable, P8 lite. The latter is adorned with a similar metal construction and sleek design as its bigger siblings, but is an affordable midranger, with toned-down features and a more modest hardware on the inside.

Today, the company has announced that it is launching the P8 lite in the USA. Very similar to the model that is currently sold in Eastern markets, the US variant of the lite rocks a 1.5 GHz, 8-core, 64-bit Snapdragon 615 SoC instead of the home-made Kirin 620 one. Other specs include 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage (supports microSD card up to 32 GB), a 13 MP main camera, 5 MP selfie snapper, and a 2,200 mAh juicebox. The phone runs on Huawei's Emotion UI 3.0, built on top of Android 4.4.4 KitKat – unfortunately, the US variant does not seem to come with Lollipop out of the box. Dual SIM is supported, though, if you choose to use it, you'd have to forego the microSD expansion, as the card slot is shared for both functions on an "either-or" principle. The handset costs $249.99 unlocked or, if bought from GetHuawei.com, can be paid in fixed installment plans of 3, 6, or 12 months.