Verizon’s $50 Yahoo phone is a rebranded ZTE Blade A3 with lots of pre-installed apps

No, you didn’t wake up in 1999. But the next time you take a trip to a Verizon store, you’re going to see a new phone on shelves alongside the iPhone 12 and Pixel 5 that might seem like you traveled back in time.

As part of the new Yahoo Mobile MVNO that launched back in March, Verizon is selling a new Yahoo phone for $50 with a very-90s purple back and a very-late-2000s mindset. It’s the first smartphone slapped with Yahoo’s branding and as expected, it’s loaded with Yahoo apps.

First the specs:

• Dimensions: 137.4 x 67.5 x 10.5 mm
• Display: 5.45-inch 720HD LCD
• Processor: Mediatek Helio A22 MT6761
• RAM: 2GB
• Storage: 32GB
• Camera: 8MP
• Battery: 2,660mAh

So yeah, you shouldn’t expect to do much with this phone. It’s not clear how skinned the Android 10-based OS is, but Yahoo says it has “an easy-to-use interface providing a user-friendly experience.” But it also says the phone will “deliver a smooth performance and longevity,” so we should probably take that with a grain of salt.

We asked Yahoo if there were any plans to update the Yahoo phone to Android 11 but have yet to hear back.

One thing the Yahoo phone will deliver, however, is extra apps. Verizon is leaning into the Yahoo branding big time and loading up your phone with tons of apps that we assume can’t be deleted, including Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Weather, and Yahoo Mobile.

Speaking of Yahoo Mobile, the phone is exclusive to the MVNO, which offers unlimited data on Verizon’s 4G network for $40 a month.

Michael Simon covers all things mobile for PCWorld and Macworld. You can usually find him with his nose buried in a screen. The best way to yell at him is on Twitter.