Rumors surface indicating Cyanogen, Inc. ready to get into smartphone business with their own device

According to undisclosed sources, Cyanogen, Inc. is working on producing an “official” CyanogenMod smartphone powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8974AC processor running at 2.5GHz, a slight step up from the current crop of devices running Snapdragon 800 chips at 2.4GHz. Reports indicate the device will be built specifically to run CyanogenMod, although it is unclear what other physical differences there may be compared with something like the Oppo N1 that supports CyanogenMod. Speaking of Oppo, although they were quick out of the gate to support Cyanogen with a special edition of the N1 that comes with CyanogenMod pre-installed, no one is saying whether they will be selected as the OEM for the new device. Another player in the Chinese market, Gionee, has surfaced as a possible contender via their upcoming ELIFE E6 device. Chinese media outlets have recently reported on a new smartphone, the ELIFE E6 pictured above, that runs on the same Snapdragon 8974AC processor that Cyanogen supposedly has an eye on for their device. The CEO of Gionee as well as their corporate marketing folks have teased this via Chinese social network Weibo. Gionee has been compared to Xiaomi, a solid player in the Chinese market looking to breakout onto the global stage to take on the likes of Samsung, HTC, LG and Sony. Whether the fact this device has surfaced at close to the same time that rumors of a Cyanogen phone using the same chip means anything remains to be seen. Back in September, right after Cyanogen, Inc. was formed, Steve Kondik and Koushik Dutta indicated they had a long-term goal to produce a Cyanogen smartphone and that they had a partner lined up. This latest rumor could be an indication that they are much closer to realizing this dream than many may have thought. Would you be interested in a Cyanogen branded smartphone? Let us know in the comments. source: Phandroid