Sharp Aquos S2 Revealed: Appearance Similar To Essential And iPhone 8

Sharp has officially announced its new smartphone, the Aquos S2, and it features a design that’s similar to the Essential Phone. The Sharp Aquos S2 is more of a mid-range handset with a premium design that only costs around $370.

The Sharp Aquos S2 arrives with minimal bezels and a pair of dual cameras on the back. The company has been making bezel-less phones with edge-to-edge displays since 2014 with the Aquos Crystal, but the Aquos S2 takes it up a notch.

The Aquos S2 comes with a 5.5-inch 1080p full HD display, which is packed in a small frame. Just on its looks alone, the Aquos S2 seems to look a lot like Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone with a display cutout for the front-facing camera.

READ: Essential Phone's Dual Cameras Explained By Company's Image Quality Engineer​

One thing that’s really different about the Aquos S2’s display are its corners. It looks like Sharp decided to cut off the corners instead of simply having them rounded like on the Essential Phone or the LG G6. No reason was given for this design choice and it’s possible that could bother some users.

Sharp also seems to be borrowing the dual camera setup of Apple’s iPhone 8. We’ve already seen numerous leaked renders and dummy models of the iPhone 8, showing its vertically aligned set of dual cameras. The Sharp Aquos S2’s dual cameras are also positioned on the back in the same manner, albeit with the LED flash sitting out of the camera module.

The Verge pointed out that Sharp may not be borrowing design ideas from Apple and Essential, but may have simply chose a design that’s more of an amalgamation of the latest trends in the smartphone industry. Overall, it seems that Sharp found the sweet spot in giving the Aquos S2 standout from the crowd.

In terms of specs, the Sharp Aquos S2 is being powered by a Snapdragon 630 processor along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. There’s also a decent 3,020mAh battery and a fingerprint sensor up front with its physical home button.

For optics, the Sharp Aquos S2 is equipped with a 12-megapixel and 8-megapixel cameras on the back. Up front is an 8MP shooter. On the software side of things, the Aquos S2 runs Android 7.0 Nougat.

READ: iPhone 8 Rumors: Latest Apple Leaks Suggest Wireless Charging, Redesigned Battery

Unfortunately, the Sharp Aquos S2 will only be officially available in China, but that won’t stop users in the United States from importing it somehow. The device sells for 2,499 yuan in China, which converts to around US$370.

There’s also a more premium edition of the device which packs a more powerful Snapdragon 660 processor along with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. However, this variant won’t be available until some time later this year with a price that’s around US$520, according to Mashable.

The Sharp Aquos S2 might not be packing flagship innards that’s as powerful as Samsung’s Galaxy S8, but it definitely is an eye-catcher with its design and more affordable price.