Could your phone also be your hi-res music player? Moondrop certainly thinks so. The firm teased on social media that it is working on its very first phone but looking at the specs it's touting, this isn't just any phone but an audiophile-friendly phone with parts from the best MP3 players.
In a world where even a 3.5mm jack plug is increasingly rare, Moondrop's upcoming phone stands out for its audiophile credentials. It has a 4.4mm output for the best wired headphones and high quality circuitry for hi-res audio.
Moondrop specialises in audio devices such as high-end headphones and DACs – you may have remembered when we reported on the launch of its DiscDream audio player for CDs – and its vision is to combine that expertise with the smartphone smarts of Android firms.
The phone, currently codenamed MIAD01, will be pretty to look at as well as listen to. It's got a 6.7-inch OLED display with 1080p resolution and 120Hz refresh rates as well as what Moondrop says is a "first-class audio-visual experience".
Moondrop MIAD01: key features
The key features here are of course the audio ones. According to Moondrop, the phone has a 4.4mm fully balanced output as well as a 3.5mm one, with the latter most likely via an adapter to fit the 4.4mm output; a "flagship decoding chip"; a low-dropout power supply; and a gold-sinking audio circuit.
One way in which this phone differs from other Androids like Google Pixel is that round the back of the phone, where there's a protruding section that includes the camera lenses that look similar to what you'd see on the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite. According to Android Police, that lump is most likely there to house the extra audio circuitry for the 4.4mm output and to provide sufficient space in which to isolate the audio circuitry from potential interference.
So far all we've got to go on are professionally produced teaser images and the specifications detailed above – as yet there is no indication of a launch date or a price. But on paper at least this sounds like it could be a really interesting option for Android music fans who'd rather not carry a phone and a separate music player when they're out and about. It'll be really interesting to see, or rather hear, if this new phone can deliver the audio excitement it seems capable of.
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