The US version of the Barbie phone is better than the global one

You might recall the Barbie frenzy from last year, right? Well, capitalizing on the movie's success, HMD (Human Mobile Devices) teamed up with Mattel, the company behind Barbie, to officially unveil the Barbie phone back in February at the Mobile World Congress (MWC). However, just yesterday, HMD announced that the Barbie phone is ready to roll out, with pre-orders in the US kicking off next month.

When it comes to the specs, there is nothing groundbreaking. The HMD Barbie phone is basically a dressed-up version of the Nokia 2660 Flip, sporting a lively pink color and a fresh theme. However, the US model does come with a few tweaks that set it apart from its global sibling.

The US version of the Barbie phone has more storage and better specs

For starters, instead of the Unisoc chip and the basic S30+ operating system in the global model, the US version of the HMD Barbie phone packs a Qualcomm 215 chip running KaiOS 3.1. RAM jumps up to 512MB with 4GB of storage, which is a notable improvement over the 64MB with 128MB in the international version. Both versions still support microSD cards up to 32GB.

Another standout difference is the camera – US users get a 5MP snapper on the cover, a big leap from the 0.3MP lens on the global model.

Connectivity-wise, the US Barbie phone also has a few twists. It supports Bluetooth 4.2 instead of the faster Bluetooth 5.0 but makes up for it with Wi-Fi and GPS/AGPS support, both of which are missing in the global variant. The US version also features a convenient hang holder on the flip bar and comes with a charger.

The battery capacity remains unchanged, and the overall screen size and dimensions are identical. This essentially suggests that HMD has simply given the Nokia 2780 Flip a Barbie makeover instead of the Nokia 2660, which serves as the global version.