What is "ALPS"?

[RedTop]

I have lately been analysing a lot of MediaTek based Chinese Android based smartphones and tablet of various manufactures, and, e.g. in AnTuTu benchmark test, they all - with very few exceptions - show up as "ALPS".
As the only 100% common denominator for all these terminals is the Android OS, I presume that it is a distribution of the OS created by a Chinese "systems house", but I am not sure, so can any one explain to me what ALPS is, where it comes from, perhaps the history of ALPS etc.?

[MegaManX]

Alps is a oem manufacturer of electronic components. Headquarters in Japan, but they've got offices and R&D all over the world and have been around for 50 years, involved in over 40,000 different products.

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[RedTop]

Hi MegaManX, I am familiar with the Japanese electronics manufacture called ALPS (or Alpine in some industries), and do know that they make a lot of switches, touch modules and screens - also used in smartphone manufacturing - but in this case I do not think it is that Alps which is referred to!
It could though be a question of ALPS producing the PCBA (Printed circuit Board Assemblies) for these phones, and that they use Goodix screens and touch controllers rather than their own - most of them have HotKnot support, which means that their screens and touch controllers comes from the MediaTek subsidiary called Goodix - and not the Alps electronics company - and the Android distribution is produced or adapted by ALPS to fit this platform!
I am relatively convinced that this Alps refers to a special distribution of Android optimised and made for MediaTek processors, and someone told me some time ago that it was made by Alcatel-Lucent, but I have not been able to find any references to that on-line, so I am not sure!

[MegaManX]

Hi MegaManX, I am familiar with the Japanese electronics manufacture called ALPS (or Alpine in some industries), and do know that they make a lot of switches, touch modules and screens - also used in smartphone manufacturing - but in this case I do not think it is that Alps which is referred to!
It could though be a question of ALPS producing the PCBA (Printed circuit Board Assemblies) for these phones, and that they use Goodix screens and touch controllers rather than their own - most of them have HotKnot support, which means that their screens and touch controllers comes from the MediaTek subsidiary called Goodix - and not the Alps electronics company - and the Android distribution is produced or adapted by ALPS to fit this platform!
I am relatively convinced that this Alps refers to a special distribution of Android optimised and made for MediaTek processors, and someone told me some time ago that it was made by Alcatel-Lucent, but I have not been able to find any references to that on-line, so I am not sure!

Fairly sure its the case that Alps referred in my first post is the alps you are seeing. They are not just Japanese... They are everywhere. They have like 30 offices in China alone.

There is really no alps brand phones. You're just seeing the clone and generic phones as alps because these are the sensors and boards the phone's using. Generally, if you have a branded phone, it will show as the phone's brand. Sometimes alps sensors will show in branded phones as well.