Gionee's sales and revenue have also gone up year to year, with the company selling 40 million handsets last year, a 21% jump from 2015. Lu says this year the company is aiming for 60 million.

Gionee, however, also explains that each chip is bound to each phone's CPU, so transplanting the chip to another phone, even another M6 or M6 Plus, won't help to break its encryption.

According to the newly uncovered listing, the Gionee GN5006 is equipped with a 5.5-inch HD+ panel featuring a resolution of 1,440 by 720 pixels amounting to an aspect ratio of 18:9, or 2:1.