First Cyanogen-powered smartphone for India will be released next month under Micromax's YU brand

Micromax, one of India’s largest handset makers, announced a new smartphone brand called YU. The very first YU handset will be released sometime in December, being based on CyanogenMod - following a partnership between Micromax and Cyanogen (we told you about this last month).

CyanogenMod itself is based on Android (KitKat in the case of the upcoming YU smartphone), being installed on more than 12 million devices around the world.

According to a Micromax exec, the company expects YU to “be a game changer brand in India.” YU devices will be sold only online, which means Micromax wants to pursue the same strategy that Xiaomi is using (to great success, we must add).

While there are no official details about the upcoming CyanogenMod-based handset, we heard that this would be a 5-inch device priced at under $360. Its rumored features include an 18 MP rear camera (yes, 18 MP - that’s not a typo), octa-core MediaTek processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of expandable storage space.

It’s not the first time when Cyanogen partners with an Asian phone manufacturer, as the US-based company also has strong ties with Oppo and OnePlus.

sources: Economic Times, AndroidOS via GSM Arena