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See these locally made Mara phones

Tech news 21 October 2019

Last week Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa opened South Africa's first smartphone production plant at the Dube TradePort in Durban.

Ramaphosa described the Mara Phones plant as a great opportunity for the country to be a producer of goods.

The manufacturing plant is the result of an R1.5-billion investment by Mara Phones that was supported by the government.

Mara Phones aims to deliver high-quality smartphones at affordable prices for South African consumers.

The first fruits produced by the company are called the Mara X and Mara Z smartphones.

MaraZ

According to Mara Phones, both devices feature long-lasting batteries, immense storage space, and Android One compatibility.

The Mara Z has a 5.7-inch display and the Mara X has a 5.5-inch screen, and both displays have the same resolution of 1,440 x 720.

When it comes to chipsets, the more expensive Mara Z boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 CPU, while the cheaper Mara X has a Mediatek MT6739 chip.

The price tag for the Mara X is R2,999, the Mara Z is priced at R3,999 and both devices are available in three colours – Black, Gold, and Silver.

The Mara X and Mara Z are available to purchase from the Mara Phones website.

Here are full specifications of both devices:

1. The Mara X

Specifications:
OS	Android 8.1 Go
Display	5.5-inch 1,440 x 720 IPS LCD
Dimensions	150.0 x 70.5 x 8.59 mm
Processor	Mediatek MT6739
RAM	1GB
Storage	16GB, MicroSD up to 128GB
Rear camera	13MP
Front Camera	5MP
Battery	3,500mAh
Connectivity	802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MicroUSB, 3.5mm audio
Network	LTE Cat 4

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2. The Mara Z

Specifications
OS	Android 9.0
Display	5.7-inch 1,440 x 720 IPS LCD
Dimensions	154.2 x 72.7 x 7.96 mm
Processor	Snapdragon 435
RAM	3GB
Storage	32GB, MicroSD up to 128GB
Rear camera	13MP
Front camera	13MP
Battery	3,050mAh
Connectivity	802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, MicroUSB, 3.5mm audio
Network	LTE Cat 7